


Hope, Not Expectations

by ESawyer



Series: The Children Who Lived [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: AU, Angst, Depression, F/M, Harry is a Twin, M/M, Slytherin!Twin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 12:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 44
Words: 122,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17059703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ESawyer/pseuds/ESawyer
Summary: Lily Daphne Weasley. Daughter of The Girl who Lived and niece of The Boy who Lived. Her dad is funny, her oldest brother is charming, her other brother is good at everything and all her cousins seem to have their own thing.Lily’s thing seems to be being the exact same person as her mother. She just isn't actually sure who that person is.Expectations. Secrets. Arguments. The odd splash of danger.The joys of growing up in one of the most famous families in the world.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to do a sequel, she said, I'm done with their stories, she said. 
> 
> I know, I'm ridiculous. 
> 
> If you haven't read the first fic, 'The Children who Lived,', I highly recommend you do. Everything that happens here will make a lot more sense if you knew what happened when Lydia and co were younger. Or you can just read this. It really makes no difference to me. 
> 
> If you have read 'The Children who Lived,' thank-you! This is probably going to be very different for a multitude of reasons that will soon make sense when we get further into the story. I'm desperate to not make it like every other next gen fic ever, but who knows what will happen. I don't really know what will happen. 
> 
> I also want to say thank-you to FirstThunder13 over on FF.net. He PM'ed me about the version of The Children who Lived over on there (go and read that if you please. It's actually quite different to the one on here) and started to discuss the sequel with me which gave me the idea for the fic you'll read here. There's also going to be a sequel over there but that's going to take a looooot more planning and I don't know how long it'll be until that goes up. 
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this!
> 
> -E.

_"_ It's _a good_ _place when all you have is hope and not expectations,”_

_\- Danny Boyle._

_\---_

A green robed Quidditch player zoomed past where seven year old Lily Weasley was stood in the stands and she jumped up and down with her hands in the air when she caught sight of ‘Weasley’ written across the back of it. With the Quaffle tucked tightly under her arm, Lydia Weasley bent closer to her broomstick, dodged a Bludger and then threw the Quaffle with alarming speed. It easily sailed through the middle goalpost and the stadium erupted with cheers.

“That's 50 - 30 to the Holyhead Harpies after a quite magnificent goal from Lydia Weasley!” Announced Ludo Bagman’s voice, “It's a shame this is her last season,”

Admittedly, Lily did not quite understand the rules of Quidditch but she enjoyed it anyway. She enjoyed watching her mum in her element, her brothers grinning so broadly and the absence of sadness from her father's eyes. George was always funny and never mean, but sometimes Lily thought that he looked a little bit too sad. Whenever she asked him why he looked so sad, he would kiss her cheek and tell her that he just missed his brother, but that was nothing that she should should be worrying about.

She also liked spending so much time with the rest of her family. There were many names to remember and she still got all the ones with red hair mixed up, but Grandma Weasley sometimes called Uncle Percy the wrong name and always called Uncle Ron George. It was always funny to see Aunt Hermione so laid back as well. Aunt Hermione was a very successful person (or so she was told, she found being a grown up very boring) and was always serious. That was until she went to a Quidditch match, anyway. Lily looked over to her and laughed for she was whooping louder than anyone else and waving her Holyhead Harpies flag so fast that it was just a blur. Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry were too busy laughing at her to take any notice of what was happening on the pitch and missed the Golden Snitch capture that won the Harpies their game.

“Come on,” George said, over the sounds of the cheering, “Let's go and wait for her,”

They waited outside the changing rooms for what felt like hours. Uncle Draco had his coat pulled tightly around him against the December chill and was muttering angrily about how cold he was.

“You're just bitter because the Harpies are going to win the league again!” Teddy said, his hair suitably the colour of the Harpies robes.

“I'm bitter because your mother takes a whole Quidditch season to come out of the changing rooms,” Draco muttered, “thank Merlin Ginny wasn't playing today or we’d never get home,”

Lily poked him in the side and giggled, “Moody!”

“I am,” he agreed, “it's why everyone loves me,”

“Define ‘everyone’?” Uncle Ron said.

Uncle Draco's reply was cut short by the changing room door opened and Lydia walking out. Lily launched herself at her mother, all whilst screaming about how she was the best player in the whole wide world.

“I'm actually quite sure there's a Chinese player who’s like statistically proven to be the best player in the whole wide world,” Lydia said, kissing her head.

“Are you incapable of taking a compliment?” George asked, “you played a good game,”

“Could have scored that first one,”

“We could also discuss this in the warmth of a pub,” Draco said loudly, “or at least somewhere that isn't so cold that I can feel my eyes freezing,”

Lydia stared at Draco and then looked down at Lily and whispered, “your Uncle Draco has always been the moodiest man in the world. He used to dramatically sigh every time something went slightly wrong in school,”

\---

Lily sat and stared at the pumpkin that she had carved with Teddy earlier that morning. It wasn't very good, but neither of them had actually had a lot of practice. Halloween wasn't really something that they celebrated at home. Though, it was something she would be able to celebrate in a year. She looked over at the fridge and at the picture that was pinned to it: it was one of her mum, Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione at Hogwarts. They looked funny in their uniforms and Lily was sure that she could see her dad in the background with Uncle Fred.

“Good pumpkin,” George said, walking into the kitchen, “Where do you want to put it?”

“I don't know,” she shrugged, “wherever you usually put pumpkins. Where do you usually put pumpkins?”

“Well,” he said, “the ones at Hogwarts float above the tables in the Great Hall so-” he flicked his wand at the Pumpkin flew upwards, floating above the kitchen table, “it's a lot more fancy at Hogwarts but you get the gist,”

Lily sat with her head resting on her chin and stared up at it. Fred was probably at the Halloween Feast now and was more than likely enjoying himself a lot more than she was. Halloween was her least favourite day in the whole entire world because they never did anything, and Lily was determined to find out why.

“I'm going to pick some food up, I'll be back in ten minutes,” George said to her, kissing the top of her head and leaving the room, keys in hand.

She slid off the chair and walked into the living room where Lydia was. She was sat on the couch and flicking through a magazine, not looking very enthralled by the whole thing. She never looked very enthralled by anything on this day.

“Are you sure you don't want to go to Aunt Hermione's and Uncle Ron's?” Lydia asked her, “it's going to be a lot more exciting than being here,”

Lily nodded, “No, I'm okay here,”

“I'm going to be going out later with your Uncle Harry,” Lydia said, “but I'll be back before you go to-”

“Can I come?

Lydia smiled at her, “You'd find it very boring,”

“You go out every Halloween with Uncle Harry and I never come,” Lily persisted, “Can I not come this year?”

“Maybe when you're older,” she said, absentmindedly.

“Why do you hate Halloween so much?”

“I don't,” Lydia answered, “it's just...” She sighed, “it's the anniversary of my parents deaths today, sweetheart. It's not the happiest of days,”

Lily frowned and looked down at her hands for a moment, mulling all of this over.

“How did they die?”

Lydia put her magazine down and turned to her, “They died protecting me and Harry against an evil wizard. It was a very long time ago. We were only a year old,”

“The man...the man who did it...” Lily said, her eyes wide with fear.

“Is dead, Lily,” Lydia promised, “He can't hurt anyone ever again. You don't need to worry about a thing,”

“How? How did he die?”

“Your Uncle Harry and I had to fight a war. It's a very long story and one for another time,”

Lily nodded and curled up against her mother, staring out of the window, “We’re safe, aren't we?”

Lydia put her arm around her, “Very, very safe. Nothing is ever going to hurt you, Lily. Your dad and I would never let that happen,”

“Can I come with you and Uncle Harry tonight?”

There was silence for a few moments and then Lydia shrugged, “I don't see why not,”

Godric's Hollow was full of Trick or Treaters, all in funny costumes. Lily couldn't help but giggle when two teenagers dressed as a witch and wizard walked past them because that wasn't what true witches and wizards looked like. Uncle Harry pointed out that they were Muggles and, at one point, he and Lydia had probably thought that witches and wizards looked like that. Lily thought that she might like a dress covered in cobwebs just to see the look on Grandma Molly's face when she saw her wearing it.

They fell into silence as they walked into the cemetery and Lily automatically moved closer to her mother. It was dark and there seemed to be an underlying tension that made Lily very uncomfortable. Uncle Harry paused for a moment at a grave that bore a peculiar rune that looked like an eye. He stared at it, shook his head and then moved on. Lydia squeezed his hand slightly and followed him until they reached the a marble headstone that seemed to glow through the darkness.

Tentatively, Lily moved closer to it so that she could read.

****_James Potter_  
March 27th 1960 - October 31st 1981  
June 24th 1995 - June 30th 1997 

**_Lily Potter  
January 30th 1960 - October 31st 1981 _ **

**_  
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death_ **

She could not remove her eyes from the name ‘Lily Potter,’. She was just beginning to understand that her mum and dad had not chose her name because it was pretty, but because there was a whole person behind it. Lily clung onto her mother's hand tighter and looked away as Harry put flowers down.

“Why does grandad have four dates?” Lily asked.

“He came back,” Uncle Harry replied, speaking very softly, “it's a very long and confusing story, love. We’ll tell you another time,”

Lily wondered if Fred knew more than she did because he was older and was determined to find out.

When Christmas rolled around and Fred came home, Lily wasted no time in hounding her brother. She burst into his bedroom and dived on top of him, punching him until he woke up. The annoying thing about thirteen year old boys was that all they did was sleep! He was as bad as Teddy who she could still hear snoring even though his bedroom was the furthest away from Fred's.

“What?” He murmured, “I'm trying to sleep, Lily,”

“Do you know why grandad came back?”

“Grandad Arthur? Came back from where?”

“No, stupid, Grandad James!”

He actually opened his eyes at this at this and then shrugged, “I don't know. Mum and dad just say it's a story for another time,” when he rolled over and started snoring again, Lily groaned and sat at the edge of his bed, thinking.

Teddy had already told her that he didn't know anymore than her about what happened to their grandparents and Fred seemed annoyingly uninterested. As she left his bedroom, she tripped over his trunk and saw his school robes and books all hanging out of it. When she got to Hogwarts, she thought, she would be able to find everything out. After all, Aunt Hermione still spoke about the library and how amazing it all was.

\---

Something that none of Lily's family members had told her was that the Great Hall was really quite cold. Her eyes flickered from the Gryffindor table where Ruby were sat and over to the Ravenclaw table where Fred was sat with Rose. Fred grinned at her and she turned back to face the front. Next to her, Hugo was jumping from one foot to the other out of nerves. Lily wasn't sure what was scarier: being the son of the Minister for Magic or being the daughter of the Girl who Lived. Perhaps they were equally terrible.

Someone tugged at her robes and turned around to a Gryffindor student who was smirking at her.

“You're the other Potter-Weasley kid, aren't you?” He whispered, “you well look like your mum!”

“Leave her alone, Boone!” Ruby hissed down the table.

“I'm just saying she looks like her mum!” He shot back at Ruby.

“And you look like a baboons arse but you don't hear us going on about it,” Ruby snapped.

Lily bit back a laugh and turned to face the front again. She could see Uncle Harry staring at them with his brows furrowed, as though he knew something was going on. Ruby just waved at him and grinned. He stared at his daughter with narrowed eyes for a few moments and then looked away. Ruby winked at Lily and then put a finger to her lips as Hugo's name was called.

The Sorting Hat was silent for a few moments before shouting, “RAVENCLAW!” And, looking quite relieved, Hugo ran to join his sister who was clapping the loudest of all the other Ravenclaws. Lily wasn't sure how much longer she could take this. Being sorted into Gryffindor would be the best bet for her. She couldn't deal with the drama of being sorted into Slytherin and, as much as she loved her oldest brother, Hufflepuff was definitely too...yellow.

“Weasley, Lily,”

There was an outbreak of muttering as Lily pushed through the crowd and walked up to the three-legged stool. She smiled gingerly at Harry who was holding the mirror up and, although she couldn't see, Lily was quite sure that her parents were probably on the other side watching. Well, her parents and the rest of the family that is.

Professor Flitwick gently dropped the Sorting Hat onto her head and the hall disappeared from sight. At first, the Hat said nothing and Lily's heart dropped to her stomach - was there no house suitable for her? Were they about to send her packing? She could think of anything more embarrassing than being rejected by the Hat in front of the whole school.

“I've been in a mind like yours before...” The Hat said suddenly, making Lily jump, “Yes..quite interesting what she went on to become but...no? You're not like your mother? Well, we’ll see about that....SLYTHERIN!”

Professor Flitwick whipped the Hat off her head and nudged her in the direction of the Slytherin table who were all cheering. Lily glanced behind her at Uncle Harry who was laughing hysterically with Neville. It was almost as though everyone but Lily knew that she was going to be sorted into Slytherin. As though it was all one big inside joke.

“Welcome to Slytherin!” The prefect said when Lily sat down, “don't look so worried. We’re the best house, no matter what those ridiculous Gryffindors say,”

Even Lily couldn't help but grin.

As the year rushed passed them, Lily realised that she wasn't really good at anything but Potions and Hugo asked too many questions. When Professor Flitwick explained levitation charm and told them why it was used, his hand went straight into the air just to ask why.

“But why do we have to use _Wingardium Leviosa_? Does the Locomotion Charm not do that? That's the spell my dad uses to move products in the shop.I don't think he's ever used _Wingardium Leviosa_!”

When Uncle Harry began teaching them the best way to carry out the Full Body-Bind Curse, Hugo's hand was in the air before Harry had even finished writing the words on the board.

“Yes, Hugo?” He asked.

“The Body Bind curse, it freezes people, right?”

“That's the general idea, yes,” Harry said.

“Then why don't people just use that all the time? It's the best way to win a duel, isn't it?”

Harry started at him for a moment, “Well...I, ugh, duelling is very complicated Hugo. It's not always as simple as that but, yes, I suppose it is rather effective to use in duelling...”

“So, I should just use that if I'm ever duelling someone?”

“No, you should have more than one spell in your-”

“Dad always says that the only spell you used is _Expelliarmus_ ,”

“And it always got me out of tricky spots that you'll never be in, mate,” Harry said, “but, back to the lesson....”

Lily enjoyed Hogwarts, she really did, but she just wished that people would stop confusing her with her mother. Sometimes Professor Flitwick would call her Lydia instead of Lily and random people would stop her in the corridors just to tell her how much she looked like her mother, as if this was something she wasn't aware of! And, even more annoying, they would stop her to tell her that Lydia was their favourite ever Quidditch player and then try and engage her in a conversation about Quidditch.

“I don't know that much about Quidditch,” she would say.

“Your mum was the captain of the Holyhead Harpies,”

“I know! I just don't know that much about it! Hugo's mum is the Minister for Magic but you don't expect him to know everything that she does, do you?”

Whenever she got into a near argument with someone who would probably be able to easily curse her, one of her cousins or Fred would always swoop in at the last minute and calm the situation down. This on infuriated Lily further - she didn't need protecting! She was doing perfectly fine on her own!

She was so fed up of being constantly compared to her mother, in fact, that she lost interest in trying to find out more about her past. She just wanted to focus on herself. And she felt like the more she found out about her mother, the more she would realise that she would never quite live up to her standard. She pretended not to notice how her teachers always looked slightly disappointed when they handed her essays back, because they were never as good as Lydia's. She acted as though she didn't notice how Uncle Harry would quietly sigh to himself when she couldn't cast a spell quite as powerfully as Lydia wild have been able to, or how Professor McGonagall looked ever so slightly confused when she realised that where Lydia always had something sarcastic to say to someone being unnecessarily rude, Lily could do nothing but stammer out a “S-Shut up!”.

This was why Lily liked Potions. In Potions, she was never compared to Lydia because Lydia was bad at Potions. Professor Slughorn chortling away at how she was like Lily Evans stung ever so slightly, but no one knew enough about Lily Evans to really know what this comparison meant. Indeed, when Lily was in the Potions dungeons, she was able to get lost in the fumes rising from her potions and was able to be herself. In there, she wasn't ‘the other Potter-Weasley kid,’ or the only daughter of Lydia Potter, she was just Lily. Just Lily who was ridiculously good at potions and had made it to the top of the class after the first lesson.

Of course, she never said any of her worries out loud. She didn't want to upset her mum or worry her dad. Fred, Rose and Ruby were busy panicking about their OWLs, Teddy was busy fighting for Werewolf rights at the Ministry along with Lydia and Aunt Hermione and Hugo would ask too many questions. She could probably speak to Professor Slughorn, but he would most definitely tell Uncle Harry and Lily didn't really want to speak to her Uncle. She loved him very much but he would probably go straight to her parents.

The only person she did tell was her best friend, Hannah. One night in the Slytherin common room, the older students were being loud and it was the perfect time for a quiet conversation that no one would listen on.

“Maybe you should dye your hair so that you don't look so much like your mum,” was the only bit of advice Hannah could offer, but even she retracted that very quickly. “Actually, don't do that, that's a bit stupid. People will get bored of talking about her eventually,”

And so, rather stupidly, Lily bottled everything up.

 


	2. It Runs in the Family

Lily Weasley was perhaps the only student in the whole of Hogwarts who was happy to see the end of the Christmas break. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being off school, because she did; the extra classes that she was taking in her third were giving her quite the headache and she wasn't sure that she would ever forgive Hugo for convincing her to take Arithmancy with him. But being back at home was possibly more exhausting. The entire family squeezing into The Burrow was always a difficult task and Lily now fully understood why her mother disliked Aunt Muriel so much.

“You're as funny shaped as your mother is,” was Aunt Muriel's way of greeting Lily the first day after term and Lily was at a loss for words.

“Mum! Aunt Muriel just said I was funny shaped like you!” Lily raged, stomping into the kitchen where Lydia was stood with Aunt Hermione and James.

“Don't think about it too much, love,” Lydia said, “she sent me a very long letter before my wedding about my hips being funny shaped. And then she sent me another one before my first ever Quidditch match saying that the robes did nothing for me,”

“Should I be worried that she’ll insult me about my Quidditch robes?” James asked.

“No, you'll be fine,” Aunt Hermione said, “you're the most normal looking one out of us all,”

“Until you get hit in the face for with Bludgers for your entire career,” Lydia said, “my nose has never been quite the same. And my front tooth sticks out a little bit more than the other from when England played Russia,”

“Is that when you got hit by two Bludgers at the same time?” Lily asked.

“No, that was when we played Ireland. Russia was when that Beater decided that hitting me with a Bludger wasn't enough so she just ploughed straight into me,”

“You know I think there should be some tighter regulations on Bludgers in Quidditch-” Aunt Hermione began.

“Don't touch Quidditch!” Lydia yelled, “I swear to Merlin I'd sooner overthrow the Ministry than have you lot touch Quidditch,”

“Please don't ruin it for me. I've only played one match,” James said.

Lily was happy for her cousin. He had been Gryffindors keeper since his third year and had been made Captain in his fifth. It was a big deal for him, being able to play professionally and Lily had scared the life out of a couple of first years when he wrote to her and told her that the Tornadoes had offered him a contract for one season. But it had only made things harder for, really.

“Why don't you play Quidditch?” Uncle Charlie asked.

“Not my thing,” Lily shrugged.

“You come from a Quidditch family,”

“Yeah, I know,” Lily said, trying to not sound annoyed, “but it's not my thing. Uncle Percy never played Quidditch, did he?”

“Uncle Percy's a prat,” George said absentmindedly and walking past with a glass of Firewhiskey.

“Thanks, Georgie,” Uncle Percy muttered, flicking through the evenings Daily Prophet.

“Have you ever thought about trying out?” George asked. Lily clenched her jaw. She had probably lost count of the amount of times that he had asked her this.

“The answer is still the same from the last five hundred times you've asked me,” Lily snapped.

“Alright, alright, alright...just making conversation,” he said, holding his hands up, “You don't have to tryout,”

The fact that she would probably never be the perfect Potter-Weasley child clouded her thoughts for the rest of Christmas and carried on doing so until she flopped down in the chair by the window in the Slytherin common room. Scowling out into the Black Lake, she wondered if James was at all worried that he would forever be compared to his Auntie every time he stepped foot onto the Quidditch pitch. She wondered if Teddy felt as though was his own person when he was at the Ministry with their mum, or whether the people they were trying to convince that Werewolves were just as human as everyone else saw him as nothing but an extension of Lydia.

Lily knew that her parents weren't expecting her to become the best player in the league or get rid of a Dark Lord. She knew that they didn't want any of that to happen to her, the rest of the Wizarding world just seemed to expect this of her.

“Why do you look like you want to murder someone? Do I need to kill someone for you? Because you know that I would do that,” Hannah asked, sitting down in the chair opposite, “thanks for the Christmas present by the way. Also, the jumper your Grandma sent me? The greatest thing I've ever worn in my life,”

Lily looked up and grinned. Hannah was still wearing her Weasley jumper and looked quite thrilled about it. At this point, Lily probably had enough jumpers for every Slytherin in the school. Not that she would ever give any of her jumpers away, of course. Christmas wasn't quite Christmas without a Weasley jumper.

“But anyway, what is up?” Hannah asked, “are you going through the trials and tribulations of being the child of a celebrity?”

“What else would I be doing?”

Hannah sighed, “Why don't you just take a leaf out of Teddy’s book and become a Metamorphmagus?”

“You do know he was born like that, don't you? It's not just something you can become,”

“I..I did not know that,” Hannah admitted, “I thought he just bored one day,”

“You’ve been hit in the head by one too many Bludgers,”

“Definitely,” Hannah agreed, “And I don't know if that just means I'm a really bad Beater,” she paused in thought for a moment, “what about becoming an Animagus? Your mum isn't an Animagus,”

“No, she isn't, but I'm also very bad at Transfiguration. I'm counting down the days to when I never have to see Professor Jowell glaring at me for being unable to transform a Beetle into a button...I don't know if I can last another two and half years in that damn classroom,”

“But you're good at Potions. Everyone knows your mum is bad at Potions. Remember when she tried to make a Pepper-up Potion and almost set the house on fire?”

Lily grinned at the memory of Lydia stood in the kitchen in the summer after their first year at Hogwarts. Hannah had come to stay for the weekend and Fred was dealing with a nasty cold. Teddy had suggested that they call Uncle Draco because he is a Senior Healer at St Mungo's, but Lydia would not hear any of it.

“I'm more than capable of making a Pepper-up Potion for my son! I've watched Grandma Molly do it one million times,”

Needless to say, Lydia probably should have payed more attention to what Grandma Molly was actually doing when she was brewing the potion because Lily was quite sure that the cauldron was not meant to blow up and send the potion flying everywhere whilst fire ripped across the kitchen table.

“You didn't inherit your potion making skills off your mum, that's for sure,” Hannah said wisely, “maybe you got them off your Uncle Draco,”

Lily frowned at her, “Honestly, Han, I think you should take a break from Quidditch. Uncle Draco isn't a blood relative. It's just a coincidence that we’re both good at potions,”

“Maybe if you get hit in the head by a Bludger you’ll be good at Transfiguration,”

“Throw a Bludger anywhere near me and I'll kick you,”

“You can't throw Bludgers, honestly, Lily,” Hannah sighed, “I don't understand how you grew up watching Quidditch matches and didn't know that you can't throw Bludgers!”

“Shut up, you thought that I could have inherited my Potion making skills off someone I'm not related to by blood,” Lydia said. She shook her head, “Purebloods have been marrying their cousins for too long,”

\---

The first day of classes meant having to fight through the deep snow on the grounds to the Herbology greenhouses. Wrapped up in a jumper, a cloak and the thickets scarf she owned, Lily trailed slightly behind Hannah and Hugo. They were in a deep debate about the upcoming Quidditch match. Hugo wasn't a player, but he enjoyed talking about it. Or maybe he just liked having a debate. Lily was never sure, she was just happy that he wasn't asking thousands of questions like he usually did.

Hugo suddenly whipped around to face Lily and made her jump. “Did I tell you what that bloody idiot asked me?”

“What bloody idiot? You call everyone a bloody idiot,”

He glared at her, “The Bloody Idiot,”

Lily managed to not groan. Since their first year, Hugo had been in a fierce rivalry with another Ravenclaw, David Addington-Oakes. Hugo liked to call him, “the privileged upper-class knobhead from hell,” or just, “The Bloody Idiot,”. Lily had once made the mistake of pointing out that Hugo's mum being who she was, Hugo himself was privileged and upper-class.

“I'm not a knobhead from hell though, am I?” He snapped.

Hannah had been the one to point out that occasionally he was and Lily wasn't sure if he had ever forgiven her for it.

“What did he say?” Lily asked, deciding that today she would be the supportive cousin.

“I got 60 out of 80 on our last Arithmancy quiz and he turned to me and was like, ‘how are you ever going to be like your mum if you can't even do well in Arithmancy?’” Hugo exclaimed, “It's alright for him! His family have so much money that the past three generations haven't had to work!”

“You know a weird amount of information about his family,” Hannah remarked.

“I ask a lot of questions,” Hugo said.

“We’ve noticed,” Lily and Hannah said in unison.

“Yeah, well, he can take that Arithmancy quiz and shove it-”

“Do you want to finish that sentence, Hugo?” Neville asked when they walked into the Greenhouse.

“He can take that Arithmancy quiz and shove it onto Professor Vector’s desk because it's important to hand in all work on time,” Hugo said.

Neville smiled, “Mhmm. Hannah, that's something you should see as important. Handing all work in on time,”

“In my defence Professor, my Pygmy Puff genuinely ate it,” Hannah told him, “I got back to the common room and she was munching on it like it was lettuce,”

“Maybe you should ask Hagrid about the best way to train a Pygmy Puff to not eat your Herbology homework,” Neville said as the rest of the class poured in, all shivering from the cold.

“The excellent drawing of the Valerian confused her, I think,” Hannah, “Also, you didn't ask us to draw anything so I think that made up for the fact that I didn't hand it in on time,”

Neville nodded, “And I very much appreciated the drawing, Hannah,” he turned to the rest of the class, “Today, we’re starting on Puffapods. The Puffapod produces beans that can be used in potions or even to be thrown at someone-” immediately, Hugo's hand went straight into the air and almost knocked Lily's glasses off her face, “Yes, Hugo?”

“Why would you throw one at someone?”

Neville answered by picking one up and throwing it onto the ground. Immediately, it flowered, “There's few things quite as alarming as someone throwing a bean at you and it suddenly blooms into a flower when you don't expect it. Incidentally, trolls seem to be allergic to Puffapods so if you ever find yourself being attacked by a troll, you know what to do,”

Hugo's hand was in the air again, “There's not really a big chance of us ever coming into contact with a troll, is there?”

“That's how your dad became mates with your mum, so you never know,” Neville shrugged.

Hugo turned to Lily with wide eyes, “I thought my dad was joking when he said they became friends after fighting a troll!”

“So did I...” Lily muttered, “I thought...I thought they became friends when my mum became friends with your mum...”

Whilst Neville set them the task of trying to take the beans out of the Puffapods without them blooming in their hands, Lily was thinking about every story that her parents had told her. A lot of them had seemed too out there to be true and she was quite sure that a lot of them were just her dad trying to seem cooler than she actually was.

“Do you think that they actually smuggled a dragon out of here in their first year?” Lily whispered to Hugo.

“No,” he said confidently, “my mum would never. It's not really the sort of thing that a Minister for Magic would do, is it?”

“To be fair, she would have been eleven. I don't think she'd have been thinking that far ahead, would she?”

“Have you ever met my mother?” Hugo muttered, “she was definitely thinking that far ahead,”

Hannah snorted and accidentally knocked a tray of Puffapods off the table, and they burst into full bloom. Lily yelped and jumped backwards, shaking some of them off her leg. Neville hurried over to them and cleared everything up with a quick wave of his wand, telling Hannah not to worry about it.

“Professor Longbottom, can I ask you something?” Hugo’s fellow Ravenclaw, Leslie Frendish asked, his hand in the air.

“Of course, Leslie. What is it?”

“Do you know the Forbidden Forest? Have you ever been in, sir?” He asked.

Neville looked slightly confused, “I’ve...yes, I have been in. When I was a student,”

“Have you not been in since?”

“Um, no, I haven't. I haven't had the urge to go in. It's not the nicest place in the world,” Neville replied, “Now, get back to your-”

“Are you not curious to know where Lydia Potter was when she got killed?”

Lily's hand slipped and she knocked another tray of Puffapods to the ground. Hannah immediately put her hand on hers all whilst glaring at Leslie who looked as though he was not aware that he had asked an incredibly insensitive question. Even Lily wasn't aware of what had happened when Lydia had walked into the Forbidden Forest. It had not been a conversation that she had ever been keen to have with her mother.

Lily looked up at Neville. His entire demeanour seemed to have change. He was no longer smiling pleasantly with his hands casually shoved into pockets. Instead, he was stood straight with his arms tightly folded. The colour seemed to have drained from his face and his eyes were narrowed. He did not at all look like the Neville that Lily knew.

“I think we’ll end class here today,” Neville said, a steely note in his voice, “I'm expecting your homework in on Friday, remember. I'll see you next lesson,”

No one needed telling twice, Lily least of all. She yanked her apron over her head, shoved it into her bag and shoved passed everyone to get out of the greenhouse. The very walls seemed to be closing in on her and she felt as though she couldn't breathe. Behind her, she heard Hugo and Hannah shouting her name but she suddenly felt the need to put as much distance between herself and the Forbidden Forest as possible.

Finally, Hugo caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and yanked her backwards.

“Lils! Wait! Are you - are you OK?” Hannah asked.

“I'm fine,” she snapped, pulling herself out of Hugo's grip.

“He mentioned-”

“I said I'm fine, Hugo!” She exclaimed.

“What are you two shouting about?”

Lily groaned as Fred and Ruby walked over to them, looking quite bemused.

“Nothing, Freddie,” Lily muttered.

“Oi! Weasley!”

“Is that The Bloody Idiot?” Ruby asked, wrinkling her nose, “why does he look so happy?”

“Do you know what happened to your mum in that Forest?” David asked.

Fred's head snapped up and Ruby immediately lurched forward and pulled him backwards as he started towards David, whispering “You’re a prefect, you're a prefect, you're a prefect,” over and over again in his ear. David looked quite gleeful and Lily was suddenly overcome with the urge to punch him.

“It's none of your business,” Fred snapped, “Go away before I take points off you,”

David eyes seem to glint, “I know. I read those court cases,”

“Court cases?” Ruby muttered, “What court cases?”

David didn't seem to hear her, “She said that she saw Dumbledore and her mum, which is strange, considering they were both dead. She even said that her mum spoke to her and told her to come back to life. I reckon everything that happened sent her mad,”

“D-Don't!” Lily yelled, tears springing to her eyes, “You don't know a thing about my mum! You don't know anything! Y-you're just...you’re j-just...” Lily groaned again. She was suddenly angry at Lydia for not telling her anything, David for being a dickhead and at herself for not being witty like her mother and be able to say something clever back.

“Lily, leave it,” Fred said quietly, “Come on. Just go to your next class. Forget him. He doesn't know what he's talking about,”

“Seems your mad as well, Weasley,” David laughed, “it must run in the family,”

“S-shut up!” Lydia exclaimed, “Shut up! “

“Lily? What's wrong? Why are you shouting?”

She turned around just as Uncle Harry walked over to them. David took one look at him and then hurried off just as the bell rang. Aware that everyone was looking at her, Lily folded her arms and tried her best to look as though the whole thing hadn't effected her. All she really wanted was for people to leave her alone and to maybe have a nap.

“What just happened?” Harry asked.

“Nothing,” Lilly said, hoisting her bag further up her shoulder, “it's nothing,”

“Seems like something,” he said, he put his arm around her, “I'll make you a cup of tea. I have some chocolate floating around somewhere,”

“I don't want tea or chocolate,” Lily snapped.

“Don't be ridiculous, Lily,” he glanced at everyone else, “Are you lot OK?”

When they all nodded and muttered about having places to be, Lily had no choice but to let her Uncle lead her to his office. When he shut the door behind them, Lily flopped into the chair in front of the desk and folded her arms. Whistling slightly, Harry flicked his wand at the kettle and it began to boil. He threw a bar of Honeydukes chocolate across the desk to her and she opened it, all whilst glaring so that he knew she was still pissed off and that chocolate wasn't going to solve anything.

“What happened?” Harry asked.

“It's just, ugh, you know that Ravenclaw that Hugo hates?”

“The Bloody Idiot?”

Lily smiled at him, “Yes. Him. He mentioned - he mentioned mum and the, um, the Forest,”

Harry flinched slightly and nodded, as though he knew what was coming.

“He said, um, he said that when she, you know, she, um, she went...” She hated how she constantly stumbled over her words, “yeah, no, he mentioned the thing that she had to do and then...well, what happened. He said she saw Dumbledore and your mum,”

Lily watched Harry react to all of this. Something told her that this was not the first time that he had heard all of this before. This didn't really surprise her though, she had thought that in all the time that had passed since the war, Lydia would have discussed what happened with her twin of all people.

“You know, Lils, what we all went through it...it was a lot for a group of seventeen year olds,” Harry said, and Lily could tell that he was choosing his words carefully, “and it's not an easy thing to talk about. It's not anything that we like talking about. There's probably stuff that happened that we haven't even discussed because so much happened,”

“I know, I just don't like how people know things and I don't,” Lily protested.

“Why don't you talk to your mum about it?” Harry suggested, “It's not really my place to talk about something that didn't happen to me...”

“Where were you? When it happened? What were you doing?” Lily asked.

“Wishing I was somewhere else, doing something else,” Harry answered, “I just wanted my sister back,” he shrugged and then smiled, “but then I got her back. So I suppose that nothing else matters, really,”

When Lily got back to the common room that evening, she did nothing but stare into the Black Lake and think. She could not understand how someone could just walk to their death as though it was nothing. Did she cry? Did it take her a while to work up the courage to do it? Or did she just walked straight backed in the forest and let him kill her?

Lily wasn't sure if even her dad knew anything about what happened that night. Did he see her before she went? Or was he too grief stricken by Fred dying? It was then that Lily realised she wasn't even sure if Fred was dead by then. Who had died first? In the two memorial services that Lily had attended, Lydia's ‘great sacrifice’ was the only thing mentioned in a speech by Aunt Hermione. Though, Lily wasn't even sure that she wanted to know what had happened - just the thought of her mother dying and leaving her behind was enough to make her want to curl up in a ball and cry for the next ten days.

“I swear to Merlin himself that Flitwick purposely gives us homework when I have Quidditch prac - what's up?”

“Nothing,”

“You're dramatically staring into the Black Lake. Somethings up,”

“Just thinking about what David said to me. You know, I don't actually understand how she came. I only figured out that she had two scars _because_ she died about ten minutes ago. I don't know anything about my own family!” Lily said.

“I don’t know what to say, Lily,” Hannah said, resting her head on her shoulder, “you should probably speak to your mum, though. I can't tell you anything,”

“Could you do it?” Lily asked, “could you walk to your death?”

“No,” Hannah replied, “I'd probably turn and run in the other direction,”

“Neither could I,” Lily said, frowning, “I don't understand how she could do it. She was the same age as Fred, Rose and Ruby. Can you imagine them having to do that?”

“Well, the good thing is is that they don't,” Hannah shrugged, “because your mum did it before any of us had to,”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!! 
> 
> -E.


	3. Malfoy Manor

“If we’re late it's going to be your fault!” Fred shouted through the dormitory door.

“Teddy is perfectly capable of waiting five minutes longer in Hogsmeade!” She yelled back.

“I'm not capable of waiting here five minutes longer!” He snapped back, “Merlin, this is the last time I organise anything with you,”

Lily rolled her eyes and bent closer to the mirror, trying her best to conceal the bags under her eyes. The Bloody Idiot had really messed with her head by mentioning the Forest. Whenever she was in Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures, her eyes were immediately drawn to the Forest and she would lose track of whatever Neville or Hagrid was saying to her. Whenever Hannah or Hugo noticed her starting, they would poke her in the side and mutter something about how she should probably go and speak to her mum.

Fred banged on the door again, “Lils! Come on!”

“Coming!” She shouted before turning round to Hannah, “What are you doing today?”

“Throwing myself off a broomstick from a considerable height,”

“Quidditch practice?”

“Yeah,”

Before Fred yelled himself hoarse, Lily quickly grabbed her cloak and hurried out of the dormitory to find her brother actually banging his head off the wall as a group of confused first years hurried back. Assuring them that this strange Ravenclaw was in fact OK, Lily dragged him out of the common room and managed to drown out the constant muttering about how she her time management was nothing short of terrible. He only shut up when they eventually made it to Hogsmeade and found a slightly pissed off Teddy waiting outside the Three Broomsticks.

“You look like a proper Weasley today,” Fred said, indicating his red hair.

Teddy grinned, “Got bored of the blue,”

“You say you get bored of the blue and then change it back three days later,” Lily said.

“That's the fun of being a Metamorphmagus, you can change your hair whenever you want,” Teddy said, holding the door open for her, “although, someone at work thought I was dad for a full ten minutes yesterday,”

Fred frowned, “You're not even related,”

“I know,” Teddy sighed, “I think people just see red hair and automatically assume Weasley,”

“That's what I do at family parties,” Lily said, “and it works most of the time,”

The Three Broomsticks was, as always, full to the brim. Whilst Teddy made his way over to the bar, Lily and Fred fought through the crowds to get to a table. The moment he sat down, Fred groaned and then rested his head on the table. Lily knew better than to try and speak to him now. At least once a month, Fred would overwork himself and become quite burned out. The fact that his NEWTs were looming would not be helping his stress levels. Lily would not soon forget the great OWL breakdown when he almost burned Gryffindor tower down.

When Teddy came over to them carrying three butterbeers, he took one look at Fred, grimaced slightly and sat next to him. It took him a while, but Fred eventually sat back up, brushed the hair out of his face and nodded.

“I'm fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine,” Fred said, taking a deep breath, “I am not stressed at all,”

“Course you're not,” Teddy said, clapping him on the back, “you've also got ages before your first exam. You’ll be fine,”

“That's easy for you to say! You passed everything!” Fred exclaimed.

“Yeah ‘cause you often fail exams, don't you, Freddie?” Lily said, “I think you'll find that I'm the one who fails exams in this family,”

“And dad,” Teddy said, “Quite sure that he's never passed anything in his life, and his life worked out alright,”

“Yeah, but dads funny. I'm about as funny as a pissed off Hippogriff!” Fred snapped, “You know, I went on a date before Christmas and she actually told me that she was disappointed because I wasn't funny!”

Lily choked on her Butterbeer and tried to pass it off as a cough whilst Teddy suddenly became very interested with the ceiling.

“If either of you ever tell James that I'm going to write to Aunt Muriel on your behalf and say that you want to have to tea with her,” Fred said, and Lily knew that he wasn't joking, “I just don't know why people think that I'm automatically going to be like dad, because I look like him!”

“Welcome to my world...” Lily muttered.

“To be fair mate, the majority of dads jokes are about how short mum is and the fact that he only has one ear. You've not got a lot to live up to,” Teddy said, “and the only jokes about his ear are fake stories about how he lost it. My personal favourite is that Professor McGonagall cursed it off him,”

“I like the one where he says he got into a fight with Hagrid,” Lily said thoughtfully, “it's even better when he tries and convinces us that he would ever win a fight with Hagrid,”

“How did he even lose it in the first place?” Fred asked frowning.

“It was in the war, wasn't it? When he was - um, when he was...” Teddy trailed off, “You know what, I actually have no idea. He's only ever had one ear, hasn't he? It's just a weird dad thing,”

Lily looked away from her brothers and tried to think of a story that her dad had told her that wasn't a complete joke. It seemed like more and more everyday she came to the realisation that she actually knew nothing about her own family but felt like the rest of the world did. She looked around the pub and wondered how many of these people knew how George really lost his ear, how Draco ever defected from the Death Eaters in the first place and had a better understanding of how Lydia came back to life after Voldemort killed her.

“What's up, Lily?” Teddy asked.

“Why did mum die?” She asked before she could stop herself.

Teddy look temporarily shocked and then gave a half-hearted shrug, “I’ve never asked. Uncle Ron mentioned something once at of the anniversary services,”

“What did he say?”

“It was nothing, really. He just said that she had to do it. Then she just...came back?”

Fred looked confused, “How? You can't just come back. There's no spell to reawaken the dead,”

“I know there isn't,” Teddy said, “I just...i don't know. He just said that she came back,”

Lily slumped back in her chair and folded her arms. She really did hate how she knew nothing about her family's history.

“Don't ask,” Teddy said hurriedly, “You know they don't like talking about the war or else they would have told us by now,”

“Does it not bother you?”

“No,” Teddy replied, “No. I don't want to know about it. I don't want to know about what they did. I'm just glad they came out the other side,”

Teddy’s lack of interest in actually interesting things infuriated Lily. And so whilst he and Fred got lost in a pointless conversation about Ravenclaws chances of winning the Quidditch cup that year, Lily began to think about all the questions she would actually like to know the answer to; how did Grandad James come back from the dead? How did Lydia come back from the dead? What was the final duel between Uncle Harry and Voldemort actually like? What did ‘I must not tell lies’ actually mean? And why did neither her mother nor her uncle ever like to talk about it? She wanted to know more about why her mother and Daphne were not friends straight away, and what Hogwarts was really like when the houses meant something.

There was no house rivalry anymore. The Quidditch Cup was still of major importance and people cared about the House Cup at the end of the school year, but that was where the rivalry started and ended. It was no strange to see a Gryffindor in the Slytherin common room or a group of Hufflepuffs pouring over books in Ravenclaw tower, and Lily could not imagine Hogwarts any other way. House tables were not even a thing anymore apart from at the start and end of the school year.

Aunt Hermione always said that Lydia was the only person in the entire school who never cared about houses when they were at school, and that was the only story from school that Lydia ever told. She always took a lot of pride in explaining how she accidentally caused controversy by sitting at the Gryffindor table on the first day of classes in her first year at Hogwarts, and continued to cause even more controversy for the rest of he time there. Though, she always promised that any controversy that she started after this was completely on purpose just because it annoyed the kind of people who always deserved to be annoyed.

It was a strange position to be in, Lily thought, to feel so loved by her parents but feel so kept in the dark by the very same people. And when they got back to the castle, Lily felt as though she couldn't hold in anymore questions. She very quickly bid goodbye to Fred and ran all the way to Harry's office. He would have to tell her something, just one tiny thing that didn't make her feel as though she wasn't trusted with important information.

“Is everything OK?” Harry asked, jumping slightly when she burst into his office.

“I feel like I don't know anything,” Lily said, throwing herself into the chair in front of his desk. They had already had this conversation before, but this time, she was determined to get something from it.

“You’re clever-”

“That's now what I meant,” Lily interrupted, “No, I meant that I don't know anything about the war. All these people...they know things about you and mum and dad and I just...I know nothing,”

Harry sighed and set his quill down, “I don't expect you to understand something that you know nothing about, but it's really not an easy thing to talk about. And I know you already know that,” he added hurriedly when he saw the look on her face, “but it really is very hard,”

“No, I know,” she said, “I know. It's just frustrating,”

“I can tell you about Malfoy Manor,” Harry said quietly, “and why no one really likes going there,”

Lily sat up straighter in her chair, “Really?”

He looked weary for a moment and then nodded, “It was when we were on the run. Back then, He was at the most powerful that had ever been and if you said His name, then a group of people called Snatchers would find you and arrest you,”

“And someone said His name?” Lily asked.

“Me,” Harry said, “I was going on about something and just forgot myself. Anyway, these Snatchers came and your mum got separated from Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron and I. I still don't actually know where she disappeared off too at this point, but we got taken to Malfoy Manor. And when we got there, Luna, Dean and your dad were there,”

“My dad?” Lily yelped, “why?”

“I guess the death eaters wanted information on me and Lydia so they went for him. It didn't work out for them. He never told them anything,” Harry said, “There was a death eater...Bellatrix Lestrange, you might have heard about her. She's the one that killed Sirius. She was His most loyal supporter, possibly the most evil woman I ever knew. And she liked torture, Bellatrix Lestrange did,” he shuddered, “and she thought that we had something that belonged to her, so she tortured your Aunt Hermione to try and get a word out of her,”

“Did she?” Lily asked, her eyes wide.

Harry snorted and shook his head, “No. She's as tough as nails, ‘Mione. It went on for about half an hour but she didn't say anything. And then Uncle Draco turned up with your mum. Obviously, I didn't know this at the time because she was upstairs and I was in the basement,”

“So what did she do?”

“What she always did, swear a bit, try and punch someone and do it all whilst being annoyingly sarcastic,” Harry said. He was speaking so casually that it made Lily a little uncomfortable. She couldn't understand how someone could be so casual when telling a story like this one, “and then Bellatrix tortured your dad,”

Lily couldn't help herself and gasped.

“And your mother really didn't appreciate that. I can't really remember much after that, though. I just remember your mum cursing Bellatrix and then we Apparated to Bill and Fleur's with Dobby...”

“The House-Elf?” Lily asked.

“That's how he died...” Harry said heavily, “he risked his life for us...Dobby was one of the bravest in that war,”

“So...so when did Uncle Draco um, you know-”

“Denounce the Dark Mark?”

Lily nodded.

“Then. He found Lydia and helped her get to the Manor to save us,” Harry said, “He did the bravest thing he could,”

“What?”

“He dared to love,”

That evening, when Lily was back in the dormitory, she remembered why she never liked being the centre of attention because being the centre of attention meant that people spoke to her, and she would find things out. Sometimes, she would find things out that she never wanted to know. She would have been very happy to spend the rest of her life not knowing why Aunt Hermione never went to Malfoy Manor. She would have been very happy to be left wondering why her dad would just drop her at the gates when she had to visit and then make a half-hearted excuse about why he wouldn't be going to the party with her.

She thought about what it must have been like at the Manor. Did her dad think that he was going to die? Or did he know that they would pull through somehow? And what about her mum, did she immediately trust Draco? And how easy was it for Uncle Draco to realise that standing by his family was the wrong thing? How easy was it for him to turn his back on them?

Lily sat with her back against the headboard of her bead, her knees drawn up to her chest. Occasionally, Lydia would join them at the parties at Malfoy Manor, though she would always stick very close to Uncle Draco or Uncle Ron and never let her, Fred or Teddy out of her sight. Lily had always assumed that this was because she dreaded these parties as much as everyone else and was just counting down the hours to when they could leave, but now that she thought more about it, she wondered if that was so they could make a quick escape. Was her mother trapped in the constant paranoia that Bellatrix Lestrange might burst through the doors at one of these parties? Was she making sure she knew where he children were just incase she might have to protect them.

“And you're staring dramatically again, what's up this time?”

Lily looked up to see Hannah sticking her head through the curtains around her bed. When Lily didn't reply, she simply sighed and crawled onto the bed, sitting opposite her.

“Who am I fighting on your behalf?” Hannah asked, “I've finally mastered _Depulso_ and I feel like I could do some proper damage to it,”

“You don't need to fight anyone on my behalf,”

“I could though,”

“You don't have to,”

“I could-”

“Hannah!”

“Sorry. So, why is it that you're staring dramatically?”

Lily sighed, “it's stupid. It's so stupid. I asked Teddy if he knew why mum had to die, and he said he didn't know anything about it. So then I went to Uncle Harry and he told me about Malfoy Manor,”

“I don't know what-”

“They were tortured. A good portion of my family were all tortured at Malfoy Manor!” Lily exclaimed, “my mum, my dad, Aunt Hermione...and Merlin knows who else!”

Hannah did not say anything.

“I really wanted to know what they did in the war but now...now I'm not sure I do,” Lily said, “or...I don't want to hear it off _them_ , anyway. You should have seen the way Uncle Harry looked...and then I started thinking about my mum and the way she acts make sense now. Like, I get why she's so overbearing and protective! Anyone would be if they went through all that!”

“First things first,” Hannah said, “you're spiralling. Secondly, maybe you should write to Daphne. She wasn't on the run with them, was she? But she was still...there,”

Lily wasted no time in scrambling out of bed and finding a quill and parchment, trying to think very carefully about what she was going to write. It wasn't as though she was sending a normal letter asking how she was.

“ _To Daphne,  
I know you and mum are best mates, but please don't tell her about this. You are my Godmother and if you did tell her, it would ruin the special bond and all that._

_Someone said something stupid about the Forbidden Forest and my mum and it made my realise I don't know anything about anything. I don't know anything about the war, I mean._

_I don't really want to ask mum. I know she has nightmares sometimes and I don't want to make anything worse for her. I just want to understand everything that little bit more._

_Hope you're okay and say hello to Maya,_  
Love,  
Lily,”

“This doesn't make me sound like a crazy person, does it?” Lily asked, shoving the letter under Hannah’s nose.

“No,” Hannah said gently, “you're not crazy, Lils,”

“If you ask David Addington-Oakes I am,”

“Oh, so are you listening to The Blood Idiot over your best friend now?” Hannah asked, “Honestly, you Potter-Weasleys are so bloody dramatic it’s ridiculous,”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> And since I probably won't update till afterwards, Merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate it then I hope you have a lovely day regardless and Happy New Year! 
> 
> -E.


	4. Werewolves and Dragons and Gringotts

Daphne wrote Lily back almost straight away. A letter dropped next to her bowl of cereal in the Great Hall the next morning and she snatched it up immediately, ripping it open.

“You’re weirdly excited to receive a letter,” Fred said, “is it off your boyfriend?”

“I dislike you sometimes,” Lily said.

“I dislike me sometimes, too,” he sighed, pouring an obscene amount of sugar into his tea whilst Rose and Ruby looked disgusted.

“ _Hello Lily,_  
_I won't tell your mum. You know, because of our special bond and all that Though, as your godmother, I am going to suggest that you speak to you mum. I always find that speaking about something that you don't understand is a good place to start._

_But I don't really know what to tell you about the war. It was a long time ago d I think that I might have blocked a to it out. I'm sure that there's all sorts of information in books about the war but sometimes it's better to hear from somewhere who was actually there. As far as I'm aware, no one who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts ever spoke to the press afterwards._

_I can tell you that your mum, Uncle Harry, Uncle Draco, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron broke out of Gringotts on the back of a dragon. It's why your dad or Uncle Bill always sort out stuff at the bank for them. Orville and I sometimes go to the bank for them. They don't like going back unless they have absolutely have to._

_The full story of what happened is very long and very confusing. I remember being at Hogwarts when the rumour first spread. At first, no one believed it. No one could have possibly broke out of Gringotts. But it soon became clear that they had in fact done it when everyone who worked at the bank at the time were punished for it. I remember hearing one of the teachers at school talking about it. It was awful._

_Like I said, the war was a long time ago and I wouldn't be surprised if your mum has blocked a lot of it out like I have. I think most of us probably have._

_Enjoy school and I'll see you at Christmas._

_Lots of love,_  
_Daphne._

_P.S: Orville says that he's still not forgiven you for letting James put that hot sauce on his food._  
_P.P.S: He also said that you should watch what you're eating next time you’re at our house_ ,”

Lily read the letter over and over, disbelieving what she was reading. There was no way that anyone could break in and out of Gringotts. Security was too tight and from what Lily understood about Goblins, they weren’t the kind of creatures to just let a group of wizards steal something from them. Lily glanced over at Fred, Rose and Ruby who were all having a furious debate about how much sugar was too much sugar and bit her lip. Her mum and Uncle Harry had been the same age as they were when they broke in Gringotts, but she could not imagine her brother and cousins doing such a thing, especially as she watched Ruby dump an entire bowl of sugar onto Fred's head.

“Have either of you three seen Louis?” Lily asked suddenly. Out of all the people in the school, Louis would know the most about Gringotts. Uncle Bill had worked there for years.

“He might have been with Hugo before, why?” Rose said, moving away from Fred as he shook the sugar out of his hair.

“Need to speak to him about the Transfiguration homework,” Lily lied.

“I can look over it for you if you want,” Rose offered.

“No, it's fine,” Lily said, “it's too long and boring,”

“Are you OK?” Ruby asked as Lily shoved the letter into her robes and jumped up.

“Fine,” Lily said, “Just stressed about Transfiguration,”

“Aren't we all,” Ruby muttered.

It didn't take Lily long to find Louis. He was near Hagrid’s hut with Hannah, Hugo and Dominique, holding a vulture-like bird on his arm and looking quite happy about it. Louis had inherited his Uncle Charlie’s love all magical creatures and had very quickly become Hagrid's favourite Weasley as a consequence.

“Do I want to know what that is?” Lily asked, looking at the bird with some apprehension.

“It's an Augurey,” Louis told her.

Automatically, Lily took a step back from it, “aren't those the birds that when they cry, you die?”

Louis rolled his eyes, “No, they sing when it's about to rain. People are just stupid,”

“Right, anyway, Gringotts,” she said, looking between Dominique and Louis, “Can you break in?”

“And people say I'm the one that ask stupid questions!” Hugo exclaimed.

“You don't ask stupid questions, you just ask too many questions,” Hannah said.

“Theoretically you're not meant to be able to,” Louis said, “but your mum did, didn't she? And your parents,” he added, looking at Hugo whose mouth was hanging open, “with Uncle Harry and Uncle Draco. Why?”

“I was just thinking about it before. People always say it's the safest place in the world, don't they?” Lily lied, slightly hurting that Louis had known about this and she didn't, “How - how did you know that my mum did that?”

Dominique shrugged, “Dad told us about it when Aunt Hermione was trying to free all Dragons from Gringotts. I think she actually used the story of what happened to get the law passed,”

“It's a good job the law passed!” Louis shouted so loudly that the Augurey ruffled its feathers angrily, “Oh, sorry, Dave,” it took Lily a moment to realise that the Augurey was called Dave. “Dragons aren't meant to be cooped up underground! It's wrong and it's cruel! They're meant to be able to fly and-”

“Oh, great, I've set him off. I shouldn't have said the word ‘dragon’ and ‘Gringotts’ in the same sentence,” Dominique sighed as Louis began to rant.

“-keeping a Dragon in Gringotts is like keeping a fish out of water-”

“Did you not know the Gringotts story?” Dominique asked, casting a wary look at her brother.

“Mum never mentioned it,” Lily said.

“-you should all go and see Uncle Charlie in Romania. That is how dragons should be kept. In the open air, where they can fly and-”

“I don't really know what happened,” Dominique said, “and I don't think my mum or dad do. The only reason they know that little bit more about it because they were staying at home with mum and dad before they went,”

“-but magical creatures in general are treated terribly. Especially half-breeds. You know people tried to make a case for people who had Veela blood to be classed as sub-human! That's like half my family-”

“He's just bitter because he doesn't have the Veela charm like me and Vicky,” Dominique giggled, “he's as charming as a Flobberworm. Come on, Lou, just drop it. Dragons are now safe and no one thinks that we’re sub-human,”

The bell sounded throughout the grounds and Dave the Augurey ruffled his feathers again. Dominique bid them goodbye and made her way back over to the castle whilst Lily, Hugo and Louis stayed outside Hagrid's hut for their first lesson of the day. Lily enjoyed having Care of Magical Creatures first, it was always an enjoyable lesson and watching Louis get emotional over how cute some of the creatures were were nothing short of amusing. Especially when they weren't even particularly cute.

“Still scared of the Forest, Weasley?” David Addington-Oakes whispered to her as he passed her.

“Don't you have something better to be doing?” Hugo snapped.

He winked at Hugo, “wouldn't you like to know,”

Hannah burst into laughter after he walked off, “Sorry, I know he's a dick but-” she collapsed into a fit of giggles again, “but I'm pretty sure we can classify that as flirting with you, Hugo,”

“Shut up!” Hugo said, shoving her.

Lily could not be bothered to listen to them argue and instead let her mind to wander to Gringotts. Breaking out of Gringotts was impossible, everyone knew that breaking out of Gringotts was impossible. In fact, Lily thought, the entire point of a bank was that no one should be able to break into it. She glanced around at her classmates and wondered if any of them would be capable of breaking in and out of Gringotts, and then began to wonder if she would be able to.

She looked over at Hannah, Hugo and Louis, all of whom were still arguing about whether or not The Bloody Idiot was being flirty or not. If Lily ever had to do anything like her mother did, then these would probably be the people who would be by her side. She wondered when Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron made the decision to go on the run with her mum and Uncle Harry. Or maybe they didn't decide, maybe they never had a choice. Aunt Hermione would probably have had to go into hiding because of her blood status, and the Weasley’s were blood traitors. Blood traitors and proud, Grandad Arthur always told her.

Hannah nudged her, “Are you OK?”

“Yeah,” she said, “Yeah, I just...I don't feel well,”

“Did yer jus’ say yer don’ feel well, Lily?” Hagrid asked, making her jump.

“Yeah,” Lily said, “Quite ill, actually,”

He gave her a sympathetic look, “Why don' yer go up to the Hospital Wing?”

“Yes,” she said, picking her bag up off the floor, “Yes. I'll go and do that. Thanks, Hagrid,”

It wasn't really a complete lie, she did have quite a bad headache and so dragged herself up to the Hospital Wing. When she got there, Madam Pomfrey was tending to another student and sighed when she saw Lily.

“Do you know how often your mother and uncle ended up in here with ridiculous injuries?” Madam Pomfrey said, motioning for her to sit on the bed, “I remember the night they found Sirius Black...” She sighed and shook her head, “Harry and Lydia were in such a state and poor Remus Lupin...” She trailed off, “What's the matter, dear?”

“Oh, um, headache,” Lily said, frowning up at Madam Pomfrey.

“That, of course, was the year with Dementors. Dementors and Werewolves!” Madam Pomfrey continued, pouring some potion into a goblet, “Of course, Remus Lupin was not a bad person. No, not all, well, you must know what he was like...poor dear. I think of him often...”

Lily had never wanted to get out of the Hospital Wing so fast. She very quickly drank the disgusting potion and rushed out of the room. With the mention of Remus Lupin, the only person Lily really wanted to speak to was Teddy. Surely Lydia and George would have told him all that they knew about his biological father. Even they couldn't be that secretive, could they?

Her first thought was to go to the Owlery and write to him, but as she passed Uncle Harry's classroom, she remembered the Mirror and immediately doubled back, bursting in.

“They key to a Patronus charm is - Lily! What are you - I'm teaching!” He exclaimed, almost dropping his wand out of shock.

“I know, I know, I'm really sorry but I need the Mirror,”

He frowned at her, “Don't you have a lesson?”

“It's only Professor Binns. Please, I need to speak to Teddy about...about Fred’s birthday,”

“Fine,” he sighed, “it's in my office. Don't be long,”

She grinned at him and hurried into his office, shutting the door behind her. The Mirror was sat on his desk and she grabbed it, speaking her mother's name into it. Her mother did not answer it, and neither did Teddy.

“Oh, hi, dad,”

“Hey, Lils,” he said, “You OK?”

“Fine,” she said.

“You don't look it,” he frowned, “Why aren't you in class?”

“It's only Professor Binns. Where's Teddy?”

“Work,” he replied, “why?”

“I need to speak to him about Fred's birthday,”

“Fred's birthday is tomorrow,” George said.

“I know,”

“It's not like you two to be unorganised,”

“I know,” she said quickly, “We just want everything to be perfect because it's his seventeenth. I'll floo him later,”

“Are you sure you're OK?”

“Yes, dad, I'm fine,”

He did not at all look like he believed her and she wished that she was better at lying.

“Right. Well...don't leave us in the dark,” he said, “Love you,”

“Love you, too,”

For a moment, Lily considered asking him about Gringotts but decided against it. If he wasn't there, he probably wouldn't know much about it. And even if he did know the story, he probably wouldn't tell her. She dropped the Mirror onto the desk and rushed past a quite bemused Harry, shouting thank-you at him.

When she eventually made it to History of Magic, Professor Binns either did not notice or did not care that she had come in late. The Bloody Idiot muttered something when she walked passed him but Lily didn't pay him any attention and just sat in her usual seat between Hannah and Hugo, her mind racing with thoughts about werewolves and dragons and Gringotts.

“Where've you been?” Hugo whispered.

“Thinking,” Lily muttered, and then she stuck her hand in the air.

“Even I don't ask questions in this class,” Hugo muttered.

“Professor Binns?” Lily said loudly.

Binns looked up at her, looking quite confused, “Yes, Miss Potter?”

Lily clenched her jaw, quite pissed off that the Professor very clearly thought that she was her mother but forced herself to move past it.

“Sorry, Professor, but I was just thinking about Gringotts,” she said, to much confusion, “and the history of it,”

“Well, the and was created by Gringott the Goblin in 1474. The bank has been put under Ministry control - once just after it was created, and then again during the Dark Lord’s control of the Ministry from 1997 to 1998,” Binns said, “On November 29th in 1926, Gringotts was put on lockdown with protective enchantments and this is what makes it difficult to break in and out,”

Lily put her hand in the air again, “but people have broken in and out,”

“There have been two known break-ins,” Professor Binns said, “once in 1991 and once in 1998. But, back to the Goblin Wars...”

“What was that about?” Hannah asked, “You planning on breaking into Gringotts or something?”

“Long story...” Lily muttered.

As Professor Binns began to drone on about the Goblin Wars, she thought about the poem that was engraved on the doorsand wondered if they had ever thought about that before they tried to break in.

  
_Enter, stranger, but take heed_  
 _Of what awaits the sin of greed_  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there.

“Are you sure you're Ok?” Hugo asked.

“I don't know,”

That evening, Lily made sure that all the cousins were sat together so that she could find out more about Gringotts. Dominique said that she had told Lily all that she knew, and the others knew nothing about it. Fred said that he always thought that Lydia didn't like going into Gringotts because she was secretly scared of Goblins and Ruby said that she hadn't even noticed either of her dad's not liking going into the bank.

“What about Remus Lupin?” Lily asked earnestly.

“I think I might know something about him transforming on the grounds...” Rose said thoughtfully, “Mum was drafting some werewolf legislation and she mentioned something about how she'd seen a werewolf in both forms and how it was ridiculous to discriminate against someone for something they couldn't control,”

“This is mad!” Lily exclaimed, “Werewolves and dragons and Gringotts!”

“Oh my,” Ruby said.

“Do you realise that none of us know anything about our parents?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading, and I hope that you had a lovely Christmas if you celebrated it! 
> 
> (I am very hungover)
> 
> -E.


	5. Fred's Seventeenth

“During the time that a Shrinking Solution is brewed, it turns a total of five colours, which are-”

Lily's hand was in the air before Professor Slughorn had even finished asking the question.

“Yes, Lily, m’dear?”

“Red, yellow, purple, green and pink, in that order. It will turn green again when you add a sliced caterpillar after adding the Shrivelfig,”

“Right again! Take another five points for Slytherin!” Professor Slughorn chortled, “Now, please remember to actually add Shrivelfig to your potion. It won't shrink anything unless you do so...”

“That's twenty points in one lesson!” Hannah whispered to her as they took notes, “and we’re only halfway through!”

Lily pretended like she hadn't been paying very close attention to how my points she was earning. Potions class was the only time when she was never compared to her mother. And if she was, it was because Lydia was dismal when it came to brewing a Potion. It was nice to know that no matter how much Lily resembled her mum, the resemblance came to a very abrupt halt where Potions was concerned.

The one thing that did bother Lily, was how often she was compared to her Grandma. The fact that Lily had never met Lily Evans only made things worse, whenever Professor Slughorn mentioned her, Lily could do nothing but nod and smile along. Really, she should just ask Slughorn more about Lily Evans and what she was actually like, but something was always stopping her. Perhaps it was because she didn't want to hear about Lily from someone who wasn't family, or perhaps it was because she didn't want to have even more impossible expectations to live up to. Living up to the legacy Lydia Potter was one thing, living up to the legacy of Lydia and Lily Potter was quite another.

Once the bell rang and they were able to escape the heavy fumes of the Potions classroom, Lily felt herself retreat into her shell again whilst Hugo and Hannah had their usual debate about Quidditch. Louis walked next to her, stroking a Puffsekin that he had been keeping in his pocket. Lily much preferred Pygmy Puffs but decided against telling him this. He was strangely protective about all Magical Creatures and took it personally if someone said something offensive about them.

“Have you got everything for Freddie's birthday?” Hugo asked her, bringing her back down to earth.

“I think so,” Lily said. It was Fred's seventeenth birthday that day and her parents were making it the biggest deal that they could, “Ted's done most of it, though,”

“Me being his cousin is the real gift,” Louis said, stowing the Puffeskin carefully in his pocket, “but Vicky got him something from me and Dominique,”

Hugo rolled his eyes at Louis, “You’re not that good,”

“No, I'm better,” he said brightly.

Lily wished that she could be half as confident as Louis in places that weren't just potions classrooms. She wished that she could be as inquisitive as Hugo without being embarrassed about how many questions she was asking. As Hannah waved at two of the other Slytherin Quidditch players, she wished that she could just do what her family did and join her on the Quidditch pitch.

Or maybe she didn't. Maybe she didn't want any of that, because that would mean she would be even more like her mother, and that was the last thing she needed. What she really wished for was the ability to stop spiralling into madness and anxiety whenever she started thinking about the slight disaster was her life.

When they sat down in Transfiguration, Lily felt herself retreat even further back into her shell. Something that she definitely didn't think was possible. Professor Jowell would probably be a very nice teacher if Lily wasn't so terrible at Transfiguration. The fact that both Fred and Teddy had been good at Transfiguration did not make Lily's life any easier. Jowell had expected her to be just as good as they were and seemed to find it difficult to mask his disappointment whenever she couldn't turn her Hedgehog into a pin cushion.

Whenever Lily complained to her parents about Transfiguration - and it was quite often - they were always quick to reassure her that it didn't matter if she wasn't good at everything, because no one could be good at everything, even the people who seemed like they were good at everything.

“Aunt Hermione might be Minister for Magic, but that doesn't cancel out the fact that she's terrible at playing Quidditch,” Lydia would say to her, “and don't even get me started on how bad Uncle Draco is at cooking. He just pretends to be good at cooking,”

“Yeah, and Fred is good at everything at school but have you seen him draw? Kid can't draw to save his life,” George would chip in, “You can't be good at everything, Lily. Your mum is terrible at Potions and being tall, and I'm bad at being the least charming person in the room. We all have our downfalls,”

“He's also bad at having two ears,” Lydia would say to Lily very quietly and on his left side so he wouldn't be able to hear, “but we don't go on about it,”

“Weasley! Are you listening?” Professor Jowell’s voice cracked like a whip throughout the classroom and Lily really needed to stop completely zoning out.

“Y-yes, sir,” she said, trying to look as though she had definitely been paying attention.

Jowell narrowed his eyes at her, “What was I just talking about?”

“Uh-”

“You should try and be more like your mother,” he said, “five points from Slytherin,”

Lily clenched her jaw and looked away from him as the rest of the class giggled slightly. How she could go from top of the class in Potions to lower than the bottom in Transfiguration was beyond her. Hugo did very quickly and very selflessly take all the attention off Lily by asking questions that even left Jowell stumped.

“Could I, in theory, turn a human I didn't like into a pin cushion. Or does it have to be a Hedgehog?”

“Yes, you could,” Jowell told him, frowning slightly, “do you have someone in mind?”

Hugo shrugged, “Maybe. I'll let you know,”

The sound of the bell during a Transfiguration lesson was Lily's favourite sound in the entire world. And she never thought that she was being dramatic when she said it was the sound that signalled the end of her torture. That lesson had been particularly bad, especially with her Hedgehog remaining quite stubbornly just that - a Hedgehog and she left as quickly as humanly possible.

“Lily! Stop walking so fast!” Hugo shouted, “You're - hey! Stop!”

She turned around and sighed, “I'm sorry. I just hate Transfiguration,”

“I know,” he said, “but cheer up, we have Defence next!”

“Brilliant,” Lily said sarcastically, “another hour of my life in which I am reminded that I'm nothing like my mum. If only I could fit killing a Dark Lord in my fifteen minute break,”

“We could try,” Hannah said, shrugging, “We’ll just have to find one first,”

“David Addington-Oakes,” Hugo muttered darkly, “that's who'll be the next one,”

“The Bloody Idiot doesn't really strike fear in my heart in the same way as the Dark Lord does,” Hannah said thoughtfully.

“Speak for yourself,” Hugo said. He brightened when Fred, Rose and Ruby walked over to them, “Hello! Happy Birthday, Fred!”

“Happy birthday, Freddie!” She said, grinning.

“I've been the centre of attention all day and it's bringing me physical pain,” He sighed, “can you believe dad actually likes to have all attention on him?”

“Well, we do have the strangest dad in the world,” Lily shrugged.

“What's wrong?” Fred asked suddenly, taking her by surprise.

“What? Nothing,”

He frowned at her, “Something's wrong. Bad morning?”

“Professor Jowell,” was the only thing she needed to tell him for him to know that the morning she had just suffered through had been terrible. Everything she had achieved in Potions suddenly did not matter to her because all she could think about was how people would probably prefer her if she was more like her mother.

“What did he say this time?” Rose asked gently.

“Just the usual ‘you need to be more like your mum,’” Lily shrugged, trying her best to act as though the whole thing hadn't bothered her.

Ruby glared, “You should tell someone about him. It's really not fair how often he picks on you,”

“No,” Lily said quickly, “I don't want to make a big deal out of it. And maybe he's right, I should be a lot better at Transfiguration than I actually am,” she resisted the urge to say, “I should be a lot better at everything else, too,” because the last thing she needed was her cousins to worry about her. She shuddered at the thought of this conversation getting back to Lydia and George, they would make an unnecessarily big deal out of the whole thing and Lily was quite sure that her mum would take a lot of joy in shouting at Jowell.

“I discreetly threatened to turn him into a pin cushion for her,” Hugo said.

“Of course you did, Hugo, of course you did,” Ruby said.

\---

The next morning, Lily woke up feeling as though Hogsmeade was the last place that she wanted to be. Hannah suggested that she brew a Polyjuice Potion so that she could go in Lily’s place instead. It was only when Lily explained to her how complicated the Polyjuice Potion that Hannah conceded that she could do nothing to help her, and that Lily would just have to suck it up and go.

It took her awhile to actually convince herself to leave the dormitory and she knew that after the last time they had gone to Hogsmeade, Fred would not bother to wait for her and neither would any of her other cousins. Having a reputation for being ridiculously late to everything amongst her family was not something that she was proud of, but it also was not something that she was trying to improve about herself.

Hannah throwing a cushion at her head and telling her to go was the thing that finally got her moving and out of the castle. As she left the Entrance Hall, she saw Rose and Ruby walking a little ahead of her but she couldn't be bothered to catch up with them and began to drag her feet even more. The snow from Christmas had still not melted and by the time she actually made it into Hogsmeade, her socks were cold and damp and she was quite sure that her glasses had become frozen to her face.

“Oi, Weasley!”

Lily turned around and then immediately regretted it for David Addington-Oakes and his gang of idiots were walking over to her with gleeful looks on their faces. Automatically, she turned back around and began to walk to the Three Broomsticks but The Bloody Idiot fell into step with her.

“Did Professor Jowell make you cry yesterday? Because you looked like you were going to cry,” he said.

“Leave me alone,” she said, though her voice was too quiet for it to leave any lasting impact and he and his gang just laughed louder.

“Did you cry?” He persisted, he looked down at her, “are you going to cry now? That'd be really funny,”

“I'm not going to cry!” Lily exclaimed.

“Ah, trying to be more like your mum? I bet she never-”

“Lils! There you are!” Lydia said, walking over to her, “Everyone else is here,”

“Hi, Mrs Weasley. Well, see you, Lily,” David said, before hurrying off with his gang.

“Was that The Bloody Idiot?” Lydia asked, frowning after him.

“Yeah,” Lily said moodily.

“Was he bothering you?”

“No more than usual,” Lily shrugged, “can we go inside? I'm cold,”

The moment they walked into the pub, Lily's glasses steamed up, but it was better than being freezing outside. Madam Rosmerta had put together a number of tables in the corner of the pub that everyone had gathered around. As Lily followed her mother over to the table, she couldn't help but notice how many people were staring at them. Though that always happened whenever Lydia was out in public. How her mother managed to ignore it was quite a talent that Lily did not possess.

“I told you she’d just be late and not dead in a ditch somewhere, Lyds!” George exclaimed, kissing Lily on the forehead, “You alright, sweetheart?”

“Fine,” Lily said whilst her mother rolled her eyes at George, “Where's Aunt Hermione?”

“Couldn't get away from work,” Uncle Ron said, pulling his Butterbeer towards him, “I think she's currently having an argument with the French Minister for Magic,”

“No, that was yesterday,” Rose said, “Today she's arguing with President of MACUSA,”

“And tomorrow she's probably arguing with me,” Ron said, shrugging.

“Wait!” Lydia exclaimed, hitting Ron in the arm to stop him from drinking, “we need to do a toast to Fred,”

“Happy Birthday, Freddie!” They all said in unison.

“And me,” Lydia added, “because he wouldn't be here without me,”

“And me!” George said, “I helped,”

“Oh, Merlin, shut up,” Teddy said, shuddering.

The exchange of presents came with many tears. As with tradition, Lydia and George gave Fred the watch that, incidentally, had once belonged to Uncle Fred. James gave him a massive bottle of Firewhiskey, despite the fact that everyone had told him not to because he was still in school and off Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, he got a massive pile of books that actually made him cry. Lily could not understand how anyone could cry over books, but decided not to ask. Lily and Teddy had thought that they were hilarious by buying him a joke book entitled, “For Those of Us Who Can't Impress Anyone With Our Jokes,”

“I'm confused,” George said, picking up the book.

“It's an inside joke that I'd love to share with everyone but I'm genuinely worried that Freddie would kill both me and Lily if we did,” Teddy said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes as Fred glared at the book as though it had personally offended him.

“It's a story we’ll tell at his wedding,”

“Providing someone wants to marry him,” Teddy said solemnly.

It was amazing how much spending time with her family could cheer Lily up. Louis caused quite a stir when Uncle Ron realised that he had a baby Porlock called Paul under the table. Uncle Draco spent a good half an hour complaining about how James was always irresponsible on the Quidditch pitch whilst James just rolled his eyes at the back of his father's head. Lydia, on the other hand, was trying to argue that you hadn't played a proper game of Quidditch unless you finished the match in a lot of pain. All whilst Harry was trying to convince Hugo that he would probably get a lot more out of his lessons if he stopped asking so many questions (“If you were quiet and let me finish what I was saying, you wouldn't have to ask!”). Uncle Ron was annoying Fred by constantly switching his cup for a Nose-Biting Teacup and Dominique had to leave the table from laughing so much.

“I hate pranks!” Fred groaned.

George gasped dramatically and slumped against Lydia as though he had just dropped dead.

“You've killed your poor father,” Lydia sighed, pushing George back upright, “but, for the record, after almost thirty years, even I'm getting bored of pranks,”

“Thirty years?” Uncle Harry exclaimed, “You've been together thirty years?”

“He asked me to the Yule Ball, which was thirty years ago,” Lydia said. Lily perked up at this, realising that she had never heard this story before, “before Vol - before the war,”

An uncomfortable silence followed this and Lily felt herself get angry. They could never have a normal conversation without it getting awkward. It was wrong, Lily thought to herself, that the war still affect them all so long after it had ended. She glanced around the pub and at the other families that were there and wondered what it was like to be apart of a normal family.

‘I'm old,” Uncle Harry announced suddenly, breaking the tension.

“And ever so slightly grey, dear,” Uncle Draco said, plucking a grey hair out of his head.

“I had the worst seventeenth birthday,” Uncle Ron sighed.

“Why?” Hugo asked.

“I was poisoned,” he said dramatically, “by your favourite teacher,” he added to Lily who couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

“I didn't poison you!” Uncle Harry said, “it was Professor Slugh- oh, I get it. I'm not her favourite teacher. That's fine. I'm not hurt,” he looked moody for a moment but then grinned at her, “I am your favourite Uncle though, aren't I?”

“Don't answer that,” George said quickly. He glanced at his nieces and nephews, “but I know that I'm all your favourite Uncle,”

“Mines actually Uncle Charlie,” Louis said absentmindedly from where he was crouched under the table with Paul the Porlock.

They very quickly dissolved into a discussion about which of their Uncles was the best; Dominique’s favourite was also Uncle Charlie, Teddy’s favourite was Uncle Draco, James’ favourite was George, Ruby's favourite was Uncle Ron, Rose’s favourite was Uncle Percy, Hugo’s favourite was Uncle Harry and Lily felt obliged to say Harry was also her favourite, even though she was quite sure that she didn't actually have a favourite.

“And I'm everyone's favourite Auntie,” Lydia said, “no need to discuss Aunties,”

“Aunt Ginny is my favourite,” Hugo said.

“Where is Aunt Ginny now, anyway?” Teddy asked.

Lily found it very hard to keep up with her Aunt Ginny even though she wrote letters to her often. She was the only one in the family, with the exception of Uncle Charlie, who had never settled down and instead spent her time travelling the world and popping back into their lives whenever she was needed.

“Romania,” George said.

“No she isn't, she's in Russia,” Uncle Ron said.

“She's actually in France, but neither of you two pay enough attention,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes, “she's coaching that French Quidditch team, the Quiberon Quafflepunchers,” she turned to James, “who, by the way, don't punch Quaffles nearly as much as they punch other members of the team. One of their chasers broke my cheekbone,”

James shuddered slightly, “Are international games really that violent?”

“Yes,” Lydia shrugged, “but you’ll be fine. Your dads a Healer,”

“Your dad is three matches away from never letting you play again,” Uncle Draco muttered.

“Sorry,” Hugo said, “Sorry, are we just going to ignore how Professor Slughorn poisoned my dad?”

“It was an accident,” Uncle Harry reassured him, “and he survived, so it's actually quite a boring conversation,”

Lydia nodded, “I can't even remember it that well,”

“We were probably arguing,” Uncle Harry said.

“Probably,” Lydia sighed, shaking her head.

Lily frowned at them both. She couldn't imagine them ever having proper arguments. In fact, they always said how they were proud of the fact that they never argued.

“I was in Hogsmeade with Fred...” George said quietly.

There was another uncomfortable silence after this. Lily very rarely heard her father mention Fred and whenever he did, no one seemed to know what to do. George shook his head and took another swig of Butterbeer, apparently lost in thought. Lydia cleared her throat and looked around the pub, as though looking for something that would make for a better subject of conversation.

“What was your seventeenth birthday like, mum?” Fred asked.

“Oh, um, my seventeenth...oh yeah, your dad proposed to me,”

Lily choked on her drink, “when you were _seventeen_?”

“Yes,” George said, coming back to earth, “but don't you get any ideas about getting engaged that young,” he turned to Fred, “unless you have something to tell us?”

“We’re not talking about my love life,” Fred said.

“Because you don't have one?” James said, grinning at his cousin.

“Shut up,”

“I've actually just realised how young you were,” Uncle Ron said, frowning.

“To be fair, it wasn't even a proper engagement. It was a to-be-engaged” Lydia said.

“What was the point in getting engaged if you weren't actually engaged?” Louis asked.

“It was during the war,” George said, “And I didn't want something to happen to either of us before I could ask the question. So then, once the war had ended, I asked her again, but properly. Got down on one knee and everything,” he added proudly, “and I didn't cry an embarrassing amount at the wedding,”

“You sobbed your way down the aisle after the ceremony was over,” Lydia said, “and through all the speeches. And when Teddy turned his hair ginger half way through the meal,”

“Don't know what you're talking about. Who wants more drinks?”

Lily was hanging onto every word that was being said. This was the most any of her family had ever spoke about being at school and during the war. What Lily found the most strange, however, is the brief mention of before the war. It was hard for Lily to imagine a time before the war since her parents and Uncles seemed to be so defined by it. And as she looked around at her parents and Uncles, she could not imagine what they were like as teenagers fighting in a war. She had, of course, seen pictures of them when they were younger, but none of them looked old enough to be able to fight.

“Are you listening?” Lydia asked, nudging her in the side.

“What? Oh, yeah, just...just stressed about Arithmancy,” Lily lied.

Lydia nodded knowingly, “Oh, yes. I've still not forgave your Aunt Hermione for making me take it in third year. As if I didn't have enough to worry about that year as it was,”

“Third year was stressful?” Hugo asked, “why?”

“That was the year my dad taught you...wasn't it?” Teddy asked, trying to sound casual.

“Best Defence teacher,” Lydia said, smiling at him, “And I'm not just saying that. He really was. He taught us how to fight Dementors,”

“When I teach my Dementor lessons, I teach it the exact same way as Lupin did,” Uncle Harry said, “with a lot of chocolate,”

“He did have a ridiculous amount of chocolate...” Lydia said with a laugh, “kind of like how Professor McGonagall always has that tin of biscuits,”

“You know, Professor Flitwick has cupcakes for when we’re having a crisis,” Rose said, “I like to think he bakes them, but I doubt it,”

“If you're in a real state, he’ll make them dance for you,” Fred piped up, “Which I learned the hard way. It is weirdly comforting, though,”

“Professor Slughorn has a whole feast on standby in case one of us are in a crisis,” Lily said.

“Which is why Slytherins are the best,” Uncle Draco said, high fiving Lydia.

“The best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we had was in Gryffindor, and the worst we had was in Slytherin,” Uncle Ron pointed out.

“Yeah, but Remus was the first person who made me proud to be in Slytherin,” Lydia said, shrugging.

“What do you mean?” Teddy asked eagerly.

“When you lot get sorted into Slytherin these days, it's no big deal, but when I was put in Slytherin, it was the most controversial thing that could have happened,” Lily began, “The fact that me and Harry had been sorted separately was a big enough deal on it’s own without the fact that I then went to Slytherin. People didn't take kindly to it, and...” She sighed, “the majority of Hogwarts thought that I was a Dark Witch for most of the time I was there,”

Lily couldn't help it and stared at her mother open mouthed. She had never heard this story before and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear anymore. Even Hugo seemed too shocked to ask questions.

“Looking back, I think I probably gave them a lot of reason to think that. I wasn't always the nicest person to be around but,” she shrugged her shoulders, “I didn't see the point in being nice to people who were never nice to me. Anyway, one day, Harry was in the hospital after a Quidditch match and I was walking around by myself and Professor Lupin found me and we went to his office and had a very long conversation about basically everything,”

“Like what?” Teddy asked.

Lydia paused for a moment, “he mentioned my mum and dad, said that I reminded him of my mum but everyone said that to me. And he pointed out that being a Slytherin isn't limited to being a dickhead. It's about being determined, clever and loving your friends deeply. But Uncle Draco and I grew up in a completely different Slytherin than the one that Lily's in now, thank Merlin,” she looked over at Teddy and smiled again, “and learning how to cast a Patronus was the best thing that could have happened to me. Not only did it repel Dementors, but in my mind, a Dark Witch would not have been able to produce something as pure as a Patronus.”

“Why did they think you were a Dark Witch, though?” Teddy asked, wiping his eyes, “I don't get it...”

Lily did not miss Lydia and Uncle Harry exchanging worried glances and, straight away, she knew that the next thing that would come out of her mother's mouth would not be the full truth.

“I think kids are scared of things they don't understand, and they didn't understand how I ended up in Slytherin if I helped get rid of the Darkest Wizard to ever live,” Lydia said lightly, “I don't know. I never asked anyone,”

When Lily got back to the Slytherin common room that evening and looked around at her fellow housemates, she wondered how her mother really felt when she found out that Lily had been sorted into a house that she had first hated.

 

 


	6. Trials and Tribulations

Suddenly, it was March. Lily did not know what had caused the year to speed up, but she did wish that it would slow down. It was getting closer and closer to the anniversary and there was nothing that she hated more than the anniversary. It was just a day of her parents being upset about something that she knew nothing about. And even though she didn't understand what caused everyone to be so sad on this day, she felt very sad about the whole thing and wished that she wouldn't.

The other not so great thing was the fact that they were getting closer and closer to NEWTs, and Fred was so stressed about his NEWTs that Lily was stressed about them too, despite only being in her third year. She had taken to completely avoiding the Ravenclaw common room because it was just full of people who were overly stressed about their exams. The only seventh year in the whole castle who seemed supremely calm was Ruby, who was more upset that the Quidditch season had come to an end for her because Gryffindor had been knocked out of the tournament. Rose had said that it was for the best because now it meant that Ruby would be able to focus on exams, which hadn't gone down very well.

“I hate this time of year,” Ruby grumbled one evening. She had come down to the Slytherin common room in an attempt to find somewhere quieter to read, though she wasn't doing a lot of reading.

“March?” Lily asked, struggling through her Transfiguration homework.

“March, April, May,” Ruby said, “It's when people start talking about the Battle of Hogwarts again, which means that people start calling me a Death Eater again,”

“Well, you're safe down here,” Alex, another third year Slytherin told her, “at least...one third of us here have grandparents, or parents, were Death Eaters. No one speaks to my Grandad Bilius, and for good reason. Knobhead,” he added, as an afterthought.

Lily nodded, “Your dad wasn't even a proper Death Eater, though, was he?”

“I know that. You know that. Not everyone does,” Ruby sighed, “people still refuse to serve him in some restaurants, you know!”

“You'd have thought that marrying the Boy who Lived would mean that people realise he's not a Death Eater,” Alex said.

“People are stupid,” Lily said, giving up on her Transfiguration essay, “sometimes people won't serve Teddy, either. And he's not even full werewolf,”

“Yes, but Teddy also walks into places that he knows don't like Werewolves and loudly talks about how the full moon affects him,”

Alex snorted, “someone's gotta call people out on their bullshit,”

“Nearly cost Aunt Hermione her job, remember?” Ruby said to Lily, grinning, “when they tried to argue that freedom of speech allowed them to say what they want about Werewolves?”

Lily laughed, “and then she said that it wasn't freedom of speech, but freedom of stupidity,”

“She's not wrong,” Ruby said, shrugging, “Ah, fuck it, I can't read this. I'm going to nap. Can I steal your bed, Lily?”

Ruby's hatred of that time of year became validated the next day when her voice rang around the courtyard.

“If you don't fuck off within the next thirty seconds, I am going to-”

“Ruby!” Uncle Harry yelled, “Language! And put your wand down!”

Lily looked up from where she was sat with Rose who calmly guiding her through her Transfiguration homework. Ruby had her wand aimed at some Ravenclaw despite her very angry father stood behind her. Rose glanced at Lily and, as though they had planned it, they stood up completely in sync and ran over to them, just as Hugo and Fred sidled over.

“He just called me a Death Eater!” Ruby shouted, “I should be able to curse him!”

“That's not how the world works, Ruby,” Uncle Harry snapped, yanking her wand out of her hand. He turned to the Ravenclaw who looked torn between laughing and crying, “Twenty points off Ravenclaw. Get lost,”

Ruby stood and glared at her dad, her arms folded tightly, “You should have let me curse him! He's such a kno-”

“Don't finish that sentence,” Harry advised her, “Now, I know it's hard this time of year but-”

“No, you don't!” Ruby snapped, “You don't know it's hard this time of year because everyone loves you this time of year! You're Harry Potter! Saviour of the Wizarding world! Everyone worships the ground you walk on!”

Lily looked away, feeling as though this wasn't a conversation that she should be apart of. Rose cleared her throat and spent a lot of time pretending to look for something in her robes whilst Hugo was staring at the ground, as though willing it to swallow him whole.

“Ruby, not here-” Uncle Harry said quietly.

“No! Here!” She shouted, “because I'm fed up of it! We all are! I'm constantly called a Death Eater or being compared to you, Rose is forever being asked if she's ever going to live up to Aunt Hermione, everyone laughs at Hugo because he’s not as intelligent as Aunt Hermione and acts like his dad-”

“I mean, I'm smart enough...” Hugo muttered.

“-Fred's forever compared to Uncle Fred which, can I just say, is pretty shitty considering none of us actually know what he was like! It's a bit hard to live up to someone you know nothing about! And everyone seems to think that Lily is a carbon copy of Aunt Lydia!” Ruby exclaimed, “and it's worse this time of year! And it's so fucking shit! Because I just want to be able to be myself without being compared to every single person in my family!”

There were a lot of people staring now. Including Professor McGonagall who was stood on the other side of the courtyard. Harry glanced over at her and shrugged slightly, as though he wasn't really sure what to say. Lily wasn't quite sure what she was meant to say.

“Okay,” Harry said finally, “Okay, I hear you. Just come up to my office and-”

“Dad, I swear to Morgana if you suggest having a cup of tea, I'm going to dump it all over you,” Ruby snapped.

Harry stared at her, “I...well, there's other drinks available just - Ruby, why are you so much like your dad? I don't need two of you!”

“I'm apparently a Death Eater like him, too,” she muttered.

“He wasn't a Death Eater,” Harry said sharply, “and neither are you. Just...just come to my office, please? All of you? It's cold,” he added, as though this would help.

“Fine,” Ruby said, stomping past him.

Harry watched her go and sighed, “Stomping! Why do people have to stomp! You don't have to stomp to show me you're angry! I get it!”

When Lily sat down in Harry's office, she wondered if he ever got slightly hurt when he realised that whenever his daughter, nieces or nephews it was not because they wanted to see him, but because they were angry about something. If he was slightly hurt by this, he did not let it show as he flicked his wand and bottles of Butterbeer popped out of the cupboard behind them and skidded to a halt in front of them on the desk.

He turned to Ruby, “See? Not tea,”

“You're not funny,” she mumbled.

“Neither is telling someone to fuck off,” Harry said calmly, “I’ll have to take points off you,”

“Somehow I'll get over it,” Ruby said.

Harry sighed, “Ruby, I know you don't think I get it, but I do. I went to school once too and-”

“You were still saviour of the Wizarding world then, and everyone loved you,”

“You know that's not true,” Harry said, “You know that everyone thought me and Aunt Lydia were mad in our fifth year,”

“Were you accused of being a Death Eater, though?” Ruby snapped.

“I wasn't,” Harry shrugged, “but you all know that Lydia was. Everyone thought she was evil-”

“And everyone still loved her in the end, didn't they?”

Harry opened his mouth as though to say something and then shook his head. He didn't say anything immediately, and instead took a deep swig of his Butterbeer before turning to looking at them all.

“Look, Spring...Spring isn't a great time of year for any of us,” he said and Lily could tell that he was choosing his words carefully, “I know it's annoying when you get the Daily Prophet in the moment and there's loads of pictures of Lydia and I but...there's really nothing we can do about it. And I know-” he said, raising his voice slightly when Ruby opened her mouth to argue, “-I know it's annoying when you're constantly compared to your parents but, it happens to every single person in the world,”

“It's a bit difficult when your mum helped save the world,” Rose muttered, “and is now the Minister for Magic,”

Lily didn't say anything, she was quite bored of complaining about how she was nothing like her mum to her Uncle. Though perhaps not as boring as he was of hearing her go on about it all the time. Even if she would never say it out loud to her cousin because it would just cause arguments, Lily thought that Rose had nothing to worry about with living up to Aunt Hermione - she was just as clever as he mother and there wasn’t a single teacher who disliked her. Once Rose left school, Lily was sure that she would very quickly find her own way.

“Or when your dad is hilarious and a very good businessman,” Fred said, “or when everyone says that Uncle Fred was the funniest person in the world,”

“Honestly, Fred, the last thing this family needs is another prankster,” Harry said gently.

“I'm fed up of David-”

“Hugo, for the love of Merlin, if you mention David Addington-Oakes, I am going to smash this bottle over your head,” Rose snapped.

“I was just going to say that I'm fed up of him constantly comparing me to mum and dad!” Hugo exclaimed, “but fine, I'll shut up,”

“You do talk about him a lot,” Lily said quietly.

“He's annoying!”

“Moving on from David Addington-Oakes,” Harry said loudly, “I get that's it's a hard time of year. I know people are a lot more annoying this time of year, but please, all of you, if someone says something horrible to you, don’t rise to it. They want to get a reaction out of you,”

Ruby rolled her eyes, “You say that as though you didn't argue with people all the time,”

He smiled, “the only person I ever argued with was your dad, so maybe do argue with people if you're looking to find a spouse,”

Even Ruby managed to laugh at that, and after promising that none of them would start a fight with someone, they left in a much better mood. Lily didn't really see the point in her promising not to start a fight, she wouldn't be able to stand up for herself if her life depended on it.

Time suddenly seemed to be speeding up, and they were getting closer and closer to the anniversary of the Battle. All of a sudden, they were halfway through March and Lily was stressed because her dad's birthday was coming up and she didn't know what to get him. George never enjoyed his birthday because he couldn't spend it with Uncle Fred. A terrible part of Lily was quite glad that it was on weekday because that meant that she didn't have to see him. Spending time with her dad on his birthday was not nearly as spending time with him on any other day of the year.

Fred had no idea what to buy him either and was banking on the fact that he would either get a burst of inspiration or Teddy would fulfill his duty as the oldest child and buy something nice. Lily took it upon herself to ask her fellow Slytherins what she should get him for his birthday and no one was particularly helpful. All suggestions ranged from beer, to a spare ear and a bit of a chocolate.

“Hannah, where on earth do you think I'm going to get a spare ear from?” Lily asked, “do you think that people just keep spare ears lying around?”

“There's some right weirdos out there,” Hannah said seriously.

“Yeah, and I think you're one of them,” Lily muttered, flopping down into her seat in the common room, “I feel like if I knew more about him I'd be able to get something good like...I don't even know what his favourite colour is! Do you know what your dad's favourite colour is?”

“I don't know...I’ll get the Ouija board out and ask him...” Hannah said, absentmindedly.

“Are you ever going to stop making dead dad jokes?” Lily sighed. Hannah's dad had died the halfway through their first year at Hogwarts, and she had reacted to it by immediately joking about it.

“Better than crying about it,” she said, flicking through the Daily Prophet, “Also, his favourite colour was yellow,”

“ _Yellow_?”

Hannah shrugged, “He was weird, it's unfortunately why I am the way I am,” she glanced over at Lily and sighed, “have you ever considered looking through old Daily Prophet articles?”

“Have I ever considered looking through where?” Lily asked, sitting up.

“You know, considering most of your cousins are in Ravenclaw, it's quite incredible how stupid you all are sometimes,” Hannah laughed, “Old Daily Prophet articles. There's probably loads in the library,”

“Oh...” Lily said softly, “I never - I never thought,”

\---

“Why are we all in the library?” Hugo asked in a hushed voice.

Lily had tracked her cousins down and was determined to find out as much as she could about her family. Hugo, Fred, Rose and Ruby were all looking as though she was going mad, not that she blamed them; she wasn't sure that there had ever been a time when she had so willingly gone into the library.

“Daily Prophet articles,” Lily said.

Rose frowned at her, “have you cracked?”

“No!” Lily exclaimed and then quickly lowered her voice as Madam Pince glared at her, “No, but...listen, we don't know anything about anything, right?”

“Define everything, because I feel like I know some things,” Fred said.

Lily rolled her eyes, “Like, about the war but...there's old Daily Prophet articles in here, isn't there? Can't we just look through all them and find out everything that they won't tell us?”

This immediately caught their interest and they scrambled up, heading to the back of the library where all the old Daily Prophet articles were kept. It was a long and arduous task trying to locate as many as they could and Madam Pince gave them all very funny looks when they went to check them out but, as usual, she did not ask too many questions and seemed quite happy to see the back of them.

With the help of the Marauders Map, Fred managed to find an empty classroom and they piled into it, dropping all the Daily Prophets onto the desks. Already, it was strange. Almost every single once had some reference to their parents, whether it be by picture, name or both. Lily couldn't help but notice how much she resembled a young Lydia and it was already giving her a headaches. Perhaps this was a bad idea.

“Look at this,” Rose said, pointing at one of them, “ _‘Scenes of terror at the Quidditch World Cup,’._ It's from nineteen ninety four...” She bent closer to it, her eyebrows raised, “Apparently, the Dark Mark was sighted there...hey, wait...nineteen ninety four...that's a year before Voldemort came back,”

“Look at this about my dad!” Ruby exclaimed, “And Aunt Lydia! When they were in the TriWizard Tournament, _“Whilst Harry Potter might be your stereotypical handsome hero, the Girl who Lived might be anything but your stereotypical righteous heroine. With a Slytherin tie hanging around her neck and a glare that could cut someone in half, I wonder how she could have ever possibly vanquished the Dark Lord once and for all. If anything, she herself looks like she's halfway to becoming the next You-Know-Who,””_

Her words hung in the air for a while, only to be broken by Fred.

“Well...mum did say not everyone always liked her,” he sifted through some more papers and then laughed loudly, “Merlin, listen to this! _“Harry Potter’s secret heartache. Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey, sources report, is none of her than the Bulgarian Bonbon Viktor Krum. No word yet on how Harry Potter is taking this latest emotional blow.””_

“Christ on a bike, this is ridiculous!” Rose exclaimed, though she was laughing, “I can't believe this...but, Aunt Lydia does like to joke about how mum has a thing for Quidditch players,”

“Wait...look at this,” Lily said, pulling a paper towards her, “ _Harry and Lydia Potter - Disturbed and Dangerous,’_ ”

“No way,” Hugo said, looking over her shoulder, “no one actually believed...”

Lily cleared her throat and began to read out loud to a stunned silence, “ _‘The children who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possible dangerous writes Rita Skeeter. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry and Lydia Potters strange behaviour, which casts doubts upon their ability to compete in.a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend school. Harry, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead...’_ ”

“What does it say about mum?” Fred asked hurriedly.

“ _‘Lydia Potter can speak Paresltongue,” reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year, “there were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought she was behind them and had cursed her brother to make him do whatever she said. She's made friends with werewolves and Giants. We reckon she'd do anything for a bit of power,” Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself’...”_

Lily stopped reading after this, not wanting to know anything more. How could she not know that her own mother could speak to snakes? Why had Lydia never thought that this was important information that she should divulge with her children? One glance at the others told her that Lydia's ability to speak to snakes was not common knowledge, and this made her feel slightly better.

“Dad really was a dickhead, wasn't he?” Ruby said, glaring down at the paper, “I mean, he's basically saying she attacked people...but, who?”

“It doesn't say,” Hugo said, reading the article, “unless he was making it up,”

“Wait, I'm confused,” Fred said, “I thought Voldemort came back in nineteen ninety four but this article-” he pointed at a newspaper with the headline, ‘ _HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED RETURNS,_ “Is from ninety six,”

“They didn't believe them at first, remember?” Rose said, “Listen to this - _“In a brief statement Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is active once more. “It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again,’””_ Rose sighed and shook her head, “he doesn't seem very good at his job, does he?” She rifled through some more paper and laughed slightly, _“‘Harry and Lydia Potter: The Chosen Ones?’_ They changed their tune quickly...”

“This is ridiculous...” Lily muttered, “I don't understand why they wouldn't tell us any of this!”

“Because, Lils, it's not a particularly happy time of their life, is it?” Fred said, dropping the papers that they had already read through onto the floor, “it's actually the exact opposite of a happy time...”

“Look at this one,” Ruby said, her voice sounding strange as she dropped a paper in front of them, “ _”Victory at last - the Battle of Hogwarts brings the end of the war and a new era of hope,”_ ”

No one seemed to want to read this out loud, so they all put their heads together and began reading silently, though Lily wished that she could be doing anything but reading this.

_“It is hard to believe that the war is finally over, four years later. As I write this, I am in a state of shock, as are, I imagine, most members of the Wizarding community. The wave of relief I felt when I learned that we were finally free from the clutches of the Dark Lord was quickly replaced with the feeling of heartache for what we have lost._

_Fifty people, some students, some teachers and some members of the Order of the Phoenix were killed. Amongst the fallen fifty were beloved Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Lucille Babbling, sixteen year old Colin Creevey, Auror Nymphadora Tonks, ex - Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Remus Lupin and co-founder of popular joke shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Fred Weasley._

_Though, another person did die last night - Lydia Potter. It is said that she walked to her death in the Forbidden Forest but miraculously, after being killed, came back to life with nothing but an extra scar to match the one on her forehead. The mystery surrounding her death and resurrection has yet to be explained and the current whereabouts of the Girl who Lived are unknown, though some sources say that she is still at Hogwarts._

_It was Lydia's brother, Harry, who fought the final duel against Lord Voldemort and won. The details surrounding their final duel have not be released, though acting Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt is reportedly making a statement on what happened in the next few hours,”_

There was more to it, but Lily no longer wanted to read. She looked up at her brother and cousins, all of whom were in various states of shock. This was the most that any of them had ever heard about the Battle of Hogwarts, and suddenly, Lily wasn't sure if she wanted to know anymore. Though, there were still thousands of burning questions that Lily wanted to ask, but knew that, perhaps, she never could - like, how _did_ Lydia knew she had to die? And how did she come back? Did she even know she was going to come back, or had she accepted her death as she walked to the Forest? She thought about what Uncle Harry had said to her when they had briefly discussed it.

_“Where were you? When it happened? What were you doing?” Lily asked._  
_  
_ “Wishing I was somewhere else, doing something else,” Harry answered, “I just wanted my sister back,” he shrugged and then smiled, “but then I got her back. So I suppose that nothing else matters, really,”

“Fucking hell!” Fred exclaimed suddenly, almost making Lily topple off her chair, “Sorry, Lils, but...look...mum was - mum was on trial,”

“What for?” Lily asked, her heart suddenly beating out of control.

“Don't be ridiculous, Freddie,” Rose scoffed, snatching the paper out of his hands, “there's no way that she was - Merlin! She actually was!”

At once, they put their heads together and began to read again.

**_SHOCK AS THE GIRL WHO LIVED  PUT UNDER ARREST_ **

_Adeline Scrimgeour, Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, caused shockwaves in the Courtroom when she put Lydia Potter, saviour of the Wizarding world, under arrest. The trial of the Malfoy family had just finished - see page 5 read their sentences - when Scrimgeour made the shocking decision._

_Potter, and those in attendance with her, were visibly shocked as Scrimgeour put her under arrest for ‘ties to Dark Magic’. There was a deeply uncomfortable tension in the room as Potter, seventeen, stared at Scrimgeour with a look of shock on her face. Her twin, Harry, also seventeen, very quickly jumped to her defence with a question that we were all itching to ask - “Are you joking?”_

_Scrimgeour, however, seemed determined to stick to what she was saying, and instructed the Aurors, who weren't quite sure what to do, arrest her. Surprisingly, it was Lydia who moved the whole thing along exclaiming, “Fine! Arrest me! It's not like I helped save the Wizarding World or anything, is it?”_

  _Whilst Lydia may have given into Scrimgeour, her Fiancé, George Weasley, didn't seem ready to back down, “Are you serious?” He asked, “she died for people like you!” Scrimgeour, however, did not seem to think that this was something that could prove her innocence saying, “she came back from the dead which makes very little sense I can only assume that Dark Magic played a part in her coming back!”_  

_Now, a week later, I was granted exclusive access to sit in on the case that was closed to many other reporters. I have reported on many cases at the Ministry of Magic, but none quite like this. The Wizengamot sat in an unnatural silence as those closest to Lydia spilled into the room - brother Harry Potter, best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Fiance George Weasley, Hogwarts teachers Professor Minerva McGonagall and Professor Horace Slughorn, as well as many of Lydia's friends from school._

  _When Lydia entered the room, I was shocked to see that she seemed quite unbothered by the whole thing and was quite calm in the way that she answered the first question put to her by Scrimgeour - “So, I assume you deny being a Dark Witch?” To which Lydia offered only a simple reply of, “Obviously,”_

_The questions that followed were not, in my opinion, particularly strong ones. Adeline Scrimgeour is an accomplished and intelligent witch, but you would not think so if you were judging her off the questions she asked Lydia as they were all questions that had already been answered. That was until she brought up a very little none fact about the Girl who Lived._

  _“Amongst the Death Eaters, you were known as the ‘Potter kid who'd kill if she had to’. In fact, at the end of your sixth year, you killed a Death Eater, didn't you?”_

_This was the first question that seemed to bother Lydia, and I might even go as far as saying she looked slightly scared. She did not tell the court how she killed the Death Eater as Scrimgeour asked her to, insisting that Scrimgeour would ‘get more joy out of it’ if she were to tell the court what happened._

  _Nothing could be prepared for what followed as, Lydia Potter, at the age of sixteen, killed a Death Eater by breaking a number of his bones using the_ Deprimo _spell, before finishing with_ Bombarda Maxima. _How anyone could kill another human like this is beyond me, never mind a sixteen year old girl, but Lydia very quickly jumped to her own defence._

_“I don't deny [killing the Death Eater] that, but you need to understand that Hogwarts was under siege. I had no idea where Harry was. I had no idea where any of my friends were and I was terrified. And I'd just seen my dad die in front of me...the one thing people seem to forget about Slytherin house...is that we value loyalty and friendships and I really don't appreciate it when people come for those I love,”_  

_This still wasn't enough to convince Scrimgeour who then turned to Neville Longbottom, a friend of Lydia's from Hogwarts who is quoted as saying that Lydia, “stood up for people who couldn't stand up for themselves,” and “used to defend Muggle Borns,” as well as being “one of the nicest people,” that he has ever met._

_When asked about a body that was discovered near the Lovegood residence, Lydia got very defensive and accused Scrimgeour of not understanding, something that is generally frowned upon in a Court._

  _“I apologise, Madam Scrimgeour, but have you ever fought in the war? Have you ever duelled knowing that only one of you are meant to come out of the other side?...I was fighting a war...I did what I had to do,”_

_If I were Scrimgeour, I would have ended the session there, but she still wasn't backing down because Lydia, I can exclusively reveal, was not always so eager on trying to kill the Dark Lord. Something that, I am sure, will come as a shock to a lot of my readers._

  _“Why is that?” Scrimgeour questioned, “Were you a secret ally?”_

_All of this questioning seemed to have finally got to Lydia as she quite rudely said, “You have got to be kidding! He killed my entire family! I didn't want to go after him because I didn't fancy dying!”_

_Professor McGonagall, newly instated Headteacher of Hogwarts, was quick to come to her students defence, “she did not want to go after You-Know-Who, but what sixteen year old girl would?”_

_Things took a worrying turn, however, when Scrimgeour asked the question that we've all be thinking since the Battle of Hogwarts - how on earth did Lydia Potter come back from the dead? It is not something that has ever been done before - so how did a seventeen year old girl manage to pull it off?_

  _Lydia's entire demeanour seemed to suddenly change, as though she had cracked, saying she was ‘not ready’ to explain what happened, but Scrimgeour insisted and Lydia had no choice but to open up, presumably for the first time, about what had happened that fateful night in the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts school._

  _“I walked into the Forbidden Forest and let him kill me,” she recounted, “After that, I woke up in a place that I thought was Kings Cross Station and then Professor Dumbledore was there. And we had a conversation about stuff...we just talked about why Harry had to be the one to kill Voldemort,” and, rather alarmingly, the girl who had been previously supremely calm burst into tears and looked away before saying, “And then I saw my mum,”_

_This, of course, is Lily Potter, the woman who gave her life so that her children could live. For the first time, I looked over at Harry. He had been crying throughout the whole case and now looked as though he would collapse. If it weren't for the fact that Scrimgeour had started speaking again, I might have asked for medical attention on his behalf._

_Lydia claims that her mother told her ‘to go back,’ and said that she went back because Lily Potter told her to. Adeline, like many of us, were still very sceptical but Lydia seemed quite sure that her mother did speak to her._

_“I spoke to my mother. I know I did. She was stood right in front of me,”_

_When Scrimgeour asked her what they spoke about, it was our new Minister for Magic who put an end to the questioning, saying that ‘she is in no state to speak about what happened after Voldemort killed her,” and that he found it, “ridiculous that we had to have this hearing in the first place,” because ‘she's done enough for us,”._  

_Finally, the entire ordeal was coming to an end. My heart broke as I looked over at Lydia, she seemed to have retreated into herself and was staring at the floor. It was taken to a vote and, of course, no one thought that Lydia Potter could have ever been a Dark Witch. The moment Scrimgeour announced that Lydia was, ‘cleared of all charges,’, George Weasley leapt from the stands and ran over to the sobbing Lydia who had not moved from the chair_  

_I don't know what the future has in store for the Children who Lived, but I hope that this is the last time they ever go through hardships,”_

“I didn't know any of that,” Fred said in a low voice, “How...how could she have seen her mum? Or Professor Dumbledore?” 

Lily shook her head over and over again, trying to make sense out of it all. She really could not understand how this Adeline Scrimgeour could have ever thought that putting Lydia on trial was a good idea, or what she thought it would achieve. But worst of all, the thing that Lily could never get her head around, was the fact that her mother had _killed_ people. Her mother, who was so kind and gentle, had murdered someone in the most violent way possible. It made her want to vomit.

 “Are you okay, Lily?” Hugo asked. 

“ _Deprimo_ and _Bombarda Maxima_ ,” she said, “How could she - how could anyone? I don't - I don't understand...”

 “Neither do I...” Ruby said, staring down at the paper. 

In an attempt to clear their minds of what they'd just read, they shoved the article about Lydia's trial away from them and began to go through others, but it only made them feel worse; they read the story of how Lydia, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco broke into Gringotts, learned that George once punched Harry and Lydia's uncle, Lydia once punched Rita Skeeter, the entire Wizarding World were against Harry and Draco’s relationship and, possibly worst of all, they learned of the Dark Order, and the Quidditch match where Lydia had resorted to using Dark Magic once again.

“Dad...dad was meant to kill Dumbledore?” Ruby said quietly, looking down at the paper in her hands with wide eyes, “I knew he was given a job to do but I...I didn't think he would...I didn't think it would be that,”

 “Stop reading,” Rose said. The fact that those words had never come out of her mouth probably contributed to how quickly they did, “This isn't helping us, at all. We know more stuff now, but it's not come directly from the source, has it? This is just other people's opinions of what it was like. The only people who know are our parents,”

“Yeah,” Fred said, though his voice sounded odd, “the only person who knows what it's like to kill a Death Eater is my own mother!” 

Rose gave him a sympathetic look, “I know it's weird to think of her ever doing... _that_ but, she said it herself in that trial. We can't possibly understand because we've never fought in a war,”

“Our mum and dad never did though, did they?” Hugo said, “and neither did Uncle Harry or Uncle Draco,”

“Jury's out on one of my dads, though,” Ruby muttered.

Rose snatched the paper out of her hand, “Look, whatever happened in the war was clearly traumatic for them and, quite frankly, whatever the real reason Aunt Lydia did Dark Magic or why they had to break out of Gringotts is none of our business. I don't even think I want to know how close Uncle Draco got to killing Dumbledore but none of that matters now! We should just be thankful for what they did! Can you imagine what the world would be like if they never risked their lives for us?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> Sorry this took me longer than usual to upload, but, you know, life happened. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely start to 2018!
> 
> -E.


	7. May 2nd, 2022

May was coming at them horrifyingly fast and Lily was starting to realise that she wouldn't be able to hide from it. Talk of what Professor McGonagall was organising for the anniversary was the main topic of conversation in the castle. Who was speaking at it was always interesting - would it be Professor Potter or Professor Longbottom? Would this be the year that Lydia Weasley finally made a speech? For as long as the anniversary memorial had taken place, Lydia had yet to make a speech and Lily didn't even need to ask her mother to know that she never would. 

Ruby was still in a bad mood because her outburst had not deterred anyone from calling her a Death Eater. If anything, it had encouraged it. It seemed that there was a certain brand of Hufflepuffs who seemed to think that had Harry not stepped in when he did, Ruby would have used Dark Magic. Lily had never heard something so ridiculous but quickly reminded herself that her own mother had used Dark Magic when she was Ruby’s age so anything could happen, really. Not that she thought her cousin would ever stoop so low. Lily wouldn't put it back Ruby to start hitting people over the head with Beaters bats (according to George, hitting things with a Beater's bat, regardless of whether they were a Bludger or not, was very effective. Teddy had then gone on to test the theory by hitting Fred in the stomach with a bat and found that it was indeed very effective).

Eternally angered by David Addington-Oakes, Hugo didn't seem to paying as much attention to the fact that the anniversary was looming ever closer and Rose and Fred were so engrossed in their revision that Lily was quite sure they wouldn't notice if the Dark Lord himself walked into the room. As she watched Harry almost fall asleep in their first period Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, she wasn't even sure that  _ he  _ would notice if the Dark Lord walked into the room. Then again, he always got like this around the anniversary. Lily never understood why he didn't just take some time off, she knew that McGonagall offered it to him every year and he always said no. 

The bell ringing seemed to awake him from his stupor. He jerked up, pushed his glasses up his nose and yawned before smiling brightly at the class. 

“If you didn't finish your essays, don't worry because your homework this week is to finish them,” he stifled a yawn, “and if you finished then, congratulations, you have no homework. See you all tomorrow,” 

“This is going to be a good week because I have one less piece of homework to do!” Hugo announced happily as they walked out of the classroom with Hannah and 

“Is it going to be a good week?” Hannah muttered, “I have three extra pieces of homework to do. Plus this essay!”

“That's because you don't do your homework,” Lily pointed out to her, “if you did your homework then maybe you wouldn't have extra,” 

“Doing homework is easier said than done,” Hannah said, “what do we have now?”

“Charms,” Alex told her, “which means that Hugo has to sit near The Bloody Idiot for an hour,” 

“I’m really looking forward to it, can you tell?”

“You're positively glowing,” 

The day dragged slowly, with Lily barely paying attention to what was going on. It wasn't her fault, all she could think about was those articles. Looking through them had definitely been a mistake, and this was only proved by the fact that she and her cousins had not been discussed anything that they had read. Lily had not even told Hannah or Alex what they had read, and she didn't think that Hugo had either. She was more than happy to not have to ever think about what happened during the war again - she now knew what had happened, and she was more than happy to not find anything more out. That didn't stop her from thinking about everything they had read, of course, she just didn't think out loud. 

“Are you alright?” Alex asked when they got back to the common room that evening. 

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugged, “I don't know. You've just seemed pretty out of it all day,” 

“ALEX!” Hannah screamed from the other side of the room, “WE HAVE QUIDDITCH PRACTICE!”

Alex groaned, “I don't know why I let her convince me to the tryout. Do you know how heavy Beater’s bats are?”

“No,” Lily said absentmindedly, “I tend to zone out when people start talking about Quidditch. I think it physically pains my family,” 

“Yeah, well, Quidditch physically pains me but no one told me that before I agreed to have Bludgers hit at me all year!” he muttered, “See you later,” 

Lily actually thought that she might get some peace and quiet that night and picked up  _ The Bell Jar  _ by Sylvia Plath. Aunt Hermione had managed to convince her that reading books by muggle authors was just as interesting as reading books by magical authors, and Lily actually found herself agreeing and looked forward to Aunt Hermione sending her her favourite books. She found  _ The Bell Jar  _ slightly depressing, if anything, but seemed unable to put it down. The fact that she could recognise herself in some of the lines worried her, but she didn't dwell it. 

Any hope of a quiet night very quickly evaporated when Fred flopped down into the seat that Alex had previously been sat in. Lily pretended that she didn't see him and curled up more, holding the book higher above her face but put it back down when Fred nudged her in the side and said her name loudly. 

“What?” she snapped. 

He held his hands up, “No need to get so defensive. I was just making sure that you're OK,” 

Lily carefully marked where she was in the book and dropped it onto the table, turning to her brother, “I am OK,” 

“No, I mean about the Prophet articles,” he said, “about mum,” 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she shrugged, “it was ages ago. It's nothing we have to worry about,” 

“I know,” Fred said, “I know, but it's the anniversary soon, isn’t it? So it's probably on our mind more than usual...it's probably on  _ their  _ mind more than usual,”

She sighed, “I know. I know, and I have been thinking about it but Rose is right. It's none of our business and we should be thankful that they fought for us,” 

Fred smiled at her and then said, “I won't tell Rose that you said she was right. She’ll never let you hear the end of it,” he picked up her book and glanced sideways at her, “Are you  _ sure  _ you're okay? You're reading  _ The Bell Jar _ ,”

She snatched the book out his hand and hit him in the arm with it, “Aunt Hermione sent it to me to read, and it's also very good!”

“I know it is! I've read it!” he said, rubbing his arm where she hit him, “It's just a very depressing read this time of year,” 

“Everything is a very depressing read this time of year,” Lily pointed out. 

Fred sighed, “that's true. Looking forward to the memorial service?”

“Not in the slightest, are you?”

“I would rather spend the day with Aunt Muriel,” Fred said, “or spend a day listening to Louis talk about Paul the Porlock,” he sighed again and stood up, “anyway, I’m on prefect duty. Enjoy your book,” 

Lily sank back into her seat and looked down at the book. The blurb was facing upwards, and she realised that she'd never read it before. Aunt Hermione had just told her that it was a good book and Lily didn't see any point in disagreeing with her. She was usually right about most things, but in embossed gold letters, there was a line from the book. 

_ “I was supposed to be having the time of my life,”. _

She stared at the words for a while, thinking. She was meant to be having the time of her life. That's what everyone always said to her about Hogwarts - “you’ll have the time of your life, Lily, honestly,”. Shaking her head of all negative thoughts, Lily flipped the book over so the cover was facing upwards and pushed it away from her, deciding that she had done enough reading for one night and retreated to the dormitory, leaving  _ The Bell Jar  _ behind. 

\---

May 2nd was upon them before they knew it. With it falling on a Friday, they got a three day weekend, but Lily didn't have a lot to look forward to. After today, she would be spending her Saturday in a private room in the Three Broomsticks with family, Ministry officials and Hannah and Alex, if she could convince her parents to let them come with them. She knew she would be able to convince them, they had yet to say no. Besides, her parents always said that the May 3rd was always worse than the actual anniversary and would probably want more people to distract them from the day.

When the alarm went off, Lily considered pretending that she couldn't hear it, but when she heard Hannah get up and turn it off, she knew that there was very little chance of her getting out of this day. The other girls were speaking quietly amongst themselves instead of gossiping loudly as they usually did, a sure sign that this day would be different to the others.

Hannah popped her head through the curtains of Lily's bed and smiled at her. 

“You OK?”

“Fine,” Lily lied, throwing the bed covers off her and getting up, “Fine. Breakfast?”

Breakfast on this morning was always a subdued affair. When she walked into the Great Hall, the first thing she noticed was that Harry wasn't sat at the staff table, though he never did on this day. Her eyes scanned the tables and she spotted him sat at the Slytherin table with Fred, Rose, Ruby, Hugo, Dominique and Louis. Hannah gently put her hand on her arm and smiled at her. 

“Go and sit with them, I’ll find Alex,” 

Sighing, Lily brushed the hair out of her eyes and walked over to the Slytherin table. She dropped into the seat between Dominique and Fred. Harry smiled weakly at her and pushed a plate of food towards her. Rose immediately poured her a cup of pumpkin juice and handed it to her. It was always amazed Lily how the entire family seemed to know exactly what the others were thinking at all times. She wasn't sure if it was magic or if they were just that close. 

“What's today's scehdule?” Rose asked, her voice low. 

Harry dug around in his robes for a moment and then pulled out a piece of parchment, “lunch is at normal time, everyone is arriving at half two, memorial starts at three, ends at four...um, and then there's a feast at half four,” 

“Are you doing a speech?” Louis asked. 

“Yeah,” Harry sighed, “Neville doesn't feel like doing it this year, I don't really feel like doing it this year, either,” 

“Don't do it then,” Ruby said. 

“If I don't do it, then Aunt Lydia has to do it and I don't trust her to talk about anything in front of a large group of people,” Harry said, smiling slightly, “we all know that it'd just be a bunch of swearing, and I don't think that would help with the Werewolf cause,” he put the parchment back into his pocket, “I've not even written the speech, Neville has. But don't tell the Prophet that,” he added, “they'd love nothing more than to rip me to shreds - even today. Especially today, actually,”

“What are you all doing this morning, then?” he asked after a brief silence in which Lily did very little apart from pushing her bacon around her plate. 

“Don't know,” Dominique sighed, “Not a lot, I'm guessing,” 

“You should all stick together,” Harry said seriously, “there's nothing worse than being alone on a day like today,”

Harry didn't really need to tell them to stick together, because they always did. The stairs from their fellow students drove them outside into sun. They sought shade underneath a tree on the edge of the lake, sometimes they spoke, sometimes they didn't. Lily rarely contributed to whatever it was they were talking about. Instead, she buried her face in  _ The Bell Jar _ , and tried to convince herself that she was nothing like Esther, the character in the book. 

By the time two o’clock rolled around, Lily had finished the book and supposed that Fred had been right. It was a bit of a depressing book to be reading this time of year, the line ‘ _ I was supposed to be having the time of my life,’  _ seemed to be etched into her brain and showed no sign of being forgotten anytime soon. 

Her entire family were stood in the Entrance Hall, and it was always at times like this that Lily realised how big her family actually was. Her Grandparents were stood with Charlie, Bill and Percy, all looking quite pale. Fleur was talking quietly to Victoire and Dominique in French whilst Louis looked on, slightly dazed due to the fact that he never learned how to speak French. Ron and Hermione were talking to Neville, and, despite everything, seemed to be laughing about something. As he usually was on this day, Draco was stood slightly away from the group, his eyes fixed on the ground. He was gripping onto his left forearm where Lily knew the Dark Mark was burned onto his skin. It was only when Harry, James and Ruby walked over to him that he seemed to come back to earth. 

“Are you OK, love?” Lydia asked, hugging her. 

“Yeah,” Lily said, “I'm fine. Where's Teddy?”

“Talking to Professor Sprout,” George told her, kissing her cheek. 

Fred wandered over to them, looking slightly more pissed off than he usually did. 

“What's wrong?” Lydia asked. 

“I just...I just got insulted...by a  _ thirteen  _ year old,” he said, looking genuinely shell shocked, “and I didn't...I didn't even have a comeback...you know, I reckon Hugo's right about that David Addington-Oakes,”

George gave him a mock- sympathetic look and said, “I can't believe that's what you're worried about today of all days,” 

“He was thirteen, dad, thirteen!” Fred said in a strained whisper, “I'm technically an adult!”

They were saved having to listen to Fred whine by Professor McGonagall calling them in to sit down. The mood instantly changed and Lily was doing her best to not run away and hide in the dungeons until it was all over. Teddy quickly hurried over to them and at first, Lily almost did not recognise him for he had changed his hair from its usual blue to a light brown colour with streaks of grey in it. There was something strangely familiar about the hair and it was only when she joined her parents in the front row and looked up at the pictures of those who had died that she saw that same head of hair on Remus Lupin. George told them that the memorial - a wall of flowers with pictures of those who had died placed inside - had been used since the very first memorial service, though Lily did her best to not look at the pictures of the dead, it made her awfully uncomfortable. 

Lily looked up to the front just as Aunt Hermione took the podium, in what Uncle Ron liked to refer to as ‘full Minister for Magic mode,’. It was strange how she seemed to transform herself into a completely different person whenever she was doing something even slightly Ministerial. 

“It is a honour to be with you all today and to celebrate life, peace and hope. It is hard to eulogise on a day like today - fifty people lost their lives on the night of The Battle of Hogwarts, all equally as important as the next and we would be here all if I dived into stories of each and everyone of them. Though, that would be the least the we could to show our gratitude for the fact that they gave their life so that we could live in a new world. A world that does not let the big man walk over the little man whilst we stand idly by, only to profess shock and ask ‘how could anyone let this happen/’ when it's all over.

I, for one, still do not understand how we let this happen, but there is very little point in questioning it all now. The who’s, why’s, what’s and where’s are trivial these days, for we now know the answer to it all. What we must do, all these years later, is band together and make sure that it never happens again. We must never forget why the Battle of Hogwarts happened, and why no one was brave enough to put a stop to it before it was too late. The day we forget these things, is the day we allow it to happen again. 

Of course, there were two people who knew what was happening before the Ministry did. And the Ministry of Magic only listened to them when it was too late, when Lord Voldemort was back in the open and we were truly at war once again,” 

Next to her, Lydia shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked away from Hermione. 

“Harry and Lydia Potter showed us what true bravery was when they were just fifteen years old - standing up for what they believed in, even when the entire Wizarding world, including former Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, told them to sit down,” 

Lily was quite sure that she heard her mum mutter, “Knobhead,” under her breath when Cornelius Fudge was mentioned. 

“It would be silly, at this point, to go into massive detail about what Harry and Lydia did for us during the war, because we already know. But what I can say, on behalf of the Wizarding community is, thank-you for doing what you did. Without you, we wouldn't be here,”

There was some applause and Lydia buried her face in her hands, crying quietly. Slowly, Lily leaned over to her and rested her head on her shoulder. Lydia looked up again and kissed the top of her her head before putting her arm around her. On Lily's other side, Teddy was crying with his arms around a sniffling Hugo whilst Ron was wiping the tears from Rose’s face. Merlin, Lily thought to herself, I  _ really  _ hate this day. 

At some point, Lily had lost track of what was happening and before she knew it, Harry had taken Hermione's place at the front and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. He glanced down at the parchment in his hands and Lily had a distinct feeling that he was reading the speech for the first time. She was also quite sure that Hermione though this too, because Lily heard her whisper, “oh no,” at the end of the row. 

When he started speaking, he sounded so broken that Lily stopped listening and only started listening again when he slowly walked back to his seat and all but collapsed onto the chair as Professor McGonagall walked up to the front to read the names of the dead. 

“Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Lucille Babbling, Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley, Severus Snape-” 

“ _ Snape _ ?” Lydia hissed to George, “They're mentioning  _ him _ ?”

“Not now, Lyds,” George whispered.

Under any other circumstance, Lily might have asked what the issue was with Severus Snape, but she didn't want to ask anything insensitive on such a sensitive day. Finally, the service came to an end and people began to slowly make their way back up to the castle. Lydia stood up and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand, running a hand through her hair and making sure that Fred was okay. 

“Back to the castle?” Uncle Bill suggested, wiping his eyes. 

“Back to the castle,” Grandad Arthur said, helping Grandma Molly up from her seat. She looked frail, but that was just what the day did to people. Teddy walked over to herand linked arms with her, leading her back up to the castle. 

Lily very suddenly realised that the only people left were her, Lydia, George and Fred, who seemed unable to take his eyes off the picture of their Uncle Fred. Lily already knew what was going through his head and walked over to him, hugging him.

“I’m fine...’m fine,” he muttered, though he sounded the exact opposite of fine. 

“I'm going to make sure that Gin’s okay,” George said finally, “she was strangely quiet today,” 

“Are you two OK?” Lydia asked, turning to them as George walked back up to the castle. 

Fred nodded, “I don't like today,”

“No one likes today, Freddie,” Lydia said sympathetically, “but it's always easier as a family, yeah?”

“Why don't you ever tell us anything?” Lily asked before she could stop herself.

“Lily...” Fred said quietly, “Not - not now,”

“What do you mean?” Lydia asked, and Lily was glad to hear that she didn't sound cross. 

“About the war,” Lily said, realising that there was no way out of it, “you never - you never tell us anything. We don't know anything,” 

Lydia blinked at her and then cleared her throat, “Well, Lils, it's a weird - it's a weird thing to talk about with my kids-”

“You always said that Dursley’s never told you anything about Grandma and Grandad, and now you're doing the same thing!”

Lily regretted saying it the moment it was out of her mouth and would have done anything to be able to turn back time to stop herself from saying it. Fred exclaimed, “Lily!” whilst Lydia stared at her as though she couldn't quite believe what had been said. Lily couldn't quite believe what had been said, either. 

“I'm sorry!” Lily said quickly, tears springing to her eyes, “I didn't mean - I'm just - I’m sorry -”

She was cut off by Lydia unexpectedly hugging her, “You're right,” she said quietly, “I'm keeping you in the dark and I'm sorry. You both have the right to know what happened,” she pulled away and wiped the tears from Lily's face, “Since I died twenty four years ago today, I'll show you what happened. Follow me,”

They fell into step besides her and Lily's heart was beating out of control as they made their way over to the Forbidden Forest. As she looked up at it, she felt as though she had never fully appreciated how scary it actually was. 

“I was in the Headmasters office with Harry when I find out,” Lydia said quietly, “so I left Dumbledore's study and bumped into Daphne. I can't remember what I told her, exactly, but I know I said that they had to kill the snake,” 

“The snake?” Fred asked. 

“Lord Voldemort’s snake. He created...he created Horcruxes. They're Dark objects containing a piece of someone's soul. It makes them practically immortal. Unless they're destroyed. Lord Voldemort created some of them and we had to destroy them,” Lydia explained.

“How do you destroy them?”

“With great difficulty,” Lydia said bluntly, “Once I'd said good-bye to Daphne, I found your dad. I didn't speak to him, though. I wasn't looking to make an impossible task harder,” she smiled at them, “then I used the resurrection stone - it brings people back from the dead, not truly, though,” she added, seeing the confused look on their faces, “I saw my parents, my godfather, Sirius and Remus, Teddy’s dad,” 

“Was that not worse for you, though? Seeing them?” Lily asked. 

Lydia shook her head, “No, because I saw where I was going. It's not often in life that you get to see  _ exactly  _ where you're going,”

She smiled at them reassuringly and they walked into the forest. Lily stuck as close as she could to her mum and brother. She knew that nothing would hurt her as long as her mum was there, but that didn't change the fact that the Forest really was terrifying. This was the first time that she had been in, and she wasn't sure that she would be rushing to go back. 

After a while, they made it to a clearing and Lily was quite sure they were in the place that Lydia had been looking for. It was quite a beautiful place, actually. Colourful plants bloomed all around them, standing out against the dark trees that surrounded the clearing. Lydia turned to face Lily and Fred, tears sparkling in her eyes. 

“Lord Voldemort was stood just there,” Lydia told them, raising a shaking hand, “and there were Death Eaters everywhere. Narcissa and Lucius were somewhere here too, but I wasn't paying much attention to anything else,” 

She shook her head, “anyway...he killed me and then I came back because I had to. I had to tell Harry that he had to be the one to kill Voldemort,” 

Fred smiled at her, “so...you came back to boss Uncle Harry about?” 

Lydia laughed, “Well, when you put it like that...” she chuckled, “No, I saw Professor Dumbledore and he explained...everything. He explained that there was a part of Voldemort’s soul in me, and that if I didn’t die, we’d never defeat him. I was the Horcrux he never meant to make. It’s why I could speak to snakes,” 

“So how did...how did you come back?” Fred asked, frowning. 

“Old magic that I don’t understand. I did a good thing and was rewarded,” Lydia said, “Really, it was my mum who should have come back but she...she sacrificed herself for me, again,”

“What was it like, mum?” Lily asked, “dying? Sorry - sorry, is that a stupid question?”

“Not a stupid question, I asked the exact same thing,” Lydia said, “and I was told that it was quicker and easier than falling asleep,” 

“Was it?” Fred asked quietly. 

Lydia looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded, “Yeah, I guess that it was,” she smiled at them both and walked towards them, taking their hands, “Listen, kids, I...I know that me and your dad don't talk about anything to do with the war. And I know that it's probably frustrating because there's probably people who know more than you do but...we’re just trying to protect you from what happened,” 

“I know,” Lily whispered. 

“But from now on...I’ll try to be more open. Talk about more stuff with you both. And Teddy,”

“Sorry for what I said,” Lily said. 

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I say stupid stuff all the time without thinking about it. It’s a Potter thing,” she said, “Now come on, we should go back up to the castle before your Uncle Ron eats all the good food,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> Sorry this took so long to get up but, you know, life happened. 
> 
> -E.


	8. The Forest, Alone

Lily sat in a stony silence in the Ravenclaw as Dominique painted the Slytherin colours onto her cheeks, humming slightly under her breath. It was the final Quidditch match of the season, and with Slytherin and Hufflepuff playing, the entire Potter-Weasley clan had come to the decision that they would be supporting Slytherin after much deliberation. Why her cousins took deciding which team they would be supporting so seriously, Lily would never understand but she was always glad when they finally came to a decision, just because it meant she could stop hearing about it.

Dominique finished with a flourish and leant back on the heels of her feet, admiring her handiwork. Lily resisted the urge to roll her eye and grabbed a mirror off the floor and looked into it. She looked ridiculous but Dominique looked so pleased with herself, that she couldn't bring herself to complain.

“Come on then, Fred,” Dominique said, beckoning him over.

“You're not putting anything on my face,” he said quickly.

Dominique rolled her eyes, “it's only a bit of makeup,”

“I'm not wearing makeup,”

“Teddy wears makeup,” Dominique pointed out.

“Teddy’s also half werewolf but you don't see me rushing to get bit by one, do you?” Fred said, inching away from her as she moved towards him, “Dominique, I swear to Merlin, move!”

“You say that like being part Werewolf is bad,” Dominique said, and she actually looked quite offended though Lily knew that she wasn't being serious.

“My least favourite thing in the world is people pulling the Werewolf card,” Fred grumbled, walking over to her, “but only do a bit! Not like last time when you painted half my face!”

“Cheer up, Freddie, it's your last Quidditch final. Where's your school spirit?” Rose said, hitting him round the head.

“It died along with the love I had for my family,” he said blankly.

“That's alright mate, you were always my least favourite cousin,” Ruby said, “I much prefer Louis,”

“Who wouldn't?” Louis said from where he was sat cross legged on the floor as a rather large spider crawled over his lap.

Hugo had inherited his father's fear of spiders and was stood by the door of the common room, refusing to go anywhere near Louis until he got rid of the spider. Lily felt as though there was as much chance of Louis getting rid of the spider as there was of her passing Transfiguration at the end of the year, but didn't think he would appreciate being told of that fact.

The moment Dominique had finished smearing green eyeshadow all over Fred's face, Hugo bolted from the room and Lily hastened to follow. She wasn't scared of spiders as such, but she did prefer them when she was as far away from them as possible. Lily barrelled straight into someone at the bottom of the corridor and it was only when they yelped and swore at the top of their voice that she realised that it was her mother.

“What’re you doing?” Lydia asked, rubbing her stomach. Then she froze slightly and looked over Lily's shoulder, “someone chasing you?”

“Who's going to be chasing her at school?” George asked, appearing behind her with Uncle Ron.

“Louis has a massive spider!” Hugo exclaimed.

Ron very quickly put his arm around Hugo and began to hurry away, shouting, “We’ll save you a seat in the stands!” over his shoulder as they disappeared around the corner.

Lily wondered what life would be like if she didn't live in a family where they favoured bonding over Quidditch over bonding in any other way. She found it quite strange that even the Minister for Magic could find time off work to go and watch a Quidditch final at Hogwarts. Lily felt as though she might have understood it a bit more if they had a family member on the Hufflepuff team or if Lily actually played, but there wasn't really anyone there to support.

This didn't stop anyone, of course. Lydia and Draco seemed to have found every piece of clothing that either of them had bearing the Slytherin colours to wear, Teddy had changed his hair colour to emerald green and James, who had suffered a head injury at his last Quidditch match, had elected to wear a green bandage around his head, rather than a white one. The more Lily looked at them all, the more she realised that they looked much better at Slytherins than she did.

“Hi, Aunt Hermione,” Lily muttered, sitting next to her. After careful consideration, she had decided that Hermione would be the best person to sit besides during a Quidditch match for she was probably the only other person who cared less than she did.

“Hello, love,” she said, “did you finish _The Bell Jar_?”

“Yes!” Lily said, sounding the most enthusiastic about something than she had in days, “Yes! I loved it!”

Hermione grinned, “I knew you would. The next book you need to read is _The Book Thief_ ,”

“What's it about?”

“Death narrates it. It's set in Nazi Germany which, by the way, everyone should know about it. More wizards need to know what happened in the 1930’s. That's my next project,”

“Death?” Lily asked, genuinely confused, “Death is your next project?”

“No,” Hermione said, “making sure Wizards know more about muggle history. We can learn from their mistakes,”

Lily quickly switched the conversation back to Sylvia Plath. She loved her Aunt Hermione, she really did, but there was nothing worse than getting stuck in a conversation with her when she got talking about something political. Or Rose, for that matter. Hugo was possibly the only Granger-Weasley who it was safe to talk to about politics, but that was because he’d grown up around the Ministry of Magic and found the whole thing quite boring.

Their conversation was cut short by the match starting, and since Lily's two best friends were playing, she felt the need to concentrate on what was happening, though she couldn't really keep up. Everything moved too quickly and the players were nothing more than green or yellow blurs, making it very difficult to show much support for either team. As with every Quidditch match, Lily found that the best way to get through it was to just cheer every time someone who knew more about Quidditch than her did.

After three years of being at Hogwarts and three years of attending Quidditch matches, Lily quickly realised that the best way for her to get through long matches was to carefully watch those around her who were much more interested in Quidditch and just cheer when they did. And the best part of having an ex-Quidditch captain as a mother was that Quidditch matches were much easier.

Watching Lydia watch Quidditch matches was also very amusing; she would lean over the stands, shouting advice at the chasers and shaking her fist at the opposing Beaters for knocking someone off their broom, all whilst shouting that she could have scored that goal at anyone who would listen. Even Uncle Harry would completely forget that he was a teacher at school and shout about how useless both Seekers were.

“THE SNITCH IS RIGHT THERE!” He bellowed at the Hufflepuff Seeker just as it disappeared from sight again. He groaned and threw himself back into his seat, “What a nightmare! How did he ever get on the team?”

Uncle Draco hit him on the arm, “Harry! You can't say that about a sixteen year old!”

“People said worse things to me when I was sixteen,” Harry muttered, watching as the Seeker circled the pitch, “and usually to my face,”

In the seats in front of her, Hugo, George and Teddy had collapsed into a fit of giggles at the sight of a Slytherin chaser being hit in the face by both Bludgers and the Quaffle all at once, causing her to then fall off her broomstick and fall onto the back of the very confused Hufflepuff Seeker. Next to them, James and Ruby were shouting obscenities at the Hufflepuff players to try and throw them of their groove, whilst Ron looked on as though he wasn't sure if he should tell them to shut up. It soon became clear that he wasn't going to tell him to shut up because he very quickly joined in with swearing at the top of his voice.

Mercifully, the Slytherin Seeker pulled off quite a spectacular save early on and Lily could stop pretending that she was having fun. When she got back to the Slytherin common room, copy of _The Book Thief_ , in hand, Lily realised that she was not even close to being able to pretend that she was having fun because the usually quiet room was full to the brim of people holding cheap bottles of Firewhiskey and eating food they'd stolen from the kitchens.

Lily spotted Hannah on the other side of the room with Alex, Fred and Hugo, all talking animatedly and looking as though they didn't have a care in the world. Trusting that no one would miss her, she darted out of the room and began to make her way up to the Ravenclaw common room, deciding that that would be the best place to eat.

“Journey without it and you will never prevail, but if you have too much of it you will surely fail,” the knocker of the Ravenclaw common room said to her.

“Um..I don't know...a map?” Lily said tentatively, “Oh, no that makes no sense...what was is it again?”

Lily very rarely came to Ravenclaw Tower on her own for the main reason that she never understood the riddle. How Ravenclaws ever got into their common room was a mystery to her.

“Journey without it and you will never prevail, but if you have too much of it you will surely fail,” the knocker repeated.

“What do you need to travel? Water - no, that's not my answer...um, oh! Confidence,” Lily said, somewhat un-confidently.

“Correct. Perhaps you should have more confidence in yourself,” the knocker said, before the door swung open.

Lily frowned and it before walking inside, why an inanimate object felt the need to tell her what was wrong in her life was beyond her. A life as a door knocker must be a boring one, she thought to herself as she settled down in one of the armchairs and opened her book. The common room was almost empty, except for a few first years who were playing chess. Lily tried not to think about the fact that all her friends and cousins were enjoying themselves at a party whilst she was on her own, reading a book. At least Aunt Hermione would be proud of her.

“I'm enjoying myself,” Lily muttered to herself, attempting to convince herself that she actually was. She jumped slightly as she said this, thinking about Slyvia Plath and Esther Greenwood.

_I was supposed to be having the time of my life._

Lily was meant to be having the time of her life, and yet she was sat on her own feeling sorry for herself whilst everyone else was at a party, actually having the time of their lives.

Instead of wallowing in her own self pity, Lily turned her attention to her book and immediately wished that she hadn't for the first line she saw was, “ _Here is a small fact, you are going to die_ ,”. She closed the book with a snap that was so loud, the group of first years jumped and looked over to her, their eyes wide in a mixture of what might have been fear and amusement.

She put her head in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, for the past two weeks, all she had been trying to do was not think about the fact that her mother had been dead, and now all she was thinking about the fact that her mother had been dead and she was trapped in her own thoughts. Thinking that the best way to get out of her own brain was to carry on reading and get lost in history, she carried on reading and, once again, wished that she hadn't because the book really was not helping her with anything.

“ _Reaction to the aforementioned fact - does this worry you? I urge you - don't be afraid. I'm nothing if not fair,_ ”

Lily closed the book again. It was not Aunt Hermione's fault that she was reading the book, after all, the name on the front of the book was not Hermione Granger - Weasley and, even if it had been, Hermione probably had no idea that Lydia had taken two of her children to see where she had died.

Did death scare Lily? She held the book in her hands and looked down at it, frowning slightly. She wasn't sure it did scare her, and had no idea whether or not this was a good thing or not. Death was a perfectly normal thing to be scared about, and yet the more she thought about it, the more she thought that it probably wasn't all the bad. Sure, she didn't like the thought of being murdered in a horrible way, but what was so bad about dying peacefully? Lydia herself at said that it was quicker and easier than falling asleep, and that didn't sound at all bad.

The thing that did stand out to her was the fact that Death, who narrated the book, claimed that he was “nothing if not fair,”. Out of all the deaths that Lily was aware of - Andromeda Tonks, Lily and James Potter, Teddy’s parents, Uncle Fred and all the people who had been mentioned at the anniversary service, none of them seemed particularly fair. Lydia having to go and be killed by Lord Voldemort seemed extremely unfair, so maybe Death didn't actually know what he was talking about.

Suddenly gripped with the need to do something, Lily leapt from her seat and hurried over to the first years.

“Sorry, do any of you know where my brothers school bag is?”

“In the corner,” one of them said distractedly.

Lily thanked them and ran over to where Fred's bag was and, feeling as though this was probably an invasion of his privacy, she opened it and rifled through it until she found what she was looking for. She closed his bag and then ran from the room, stopping at the end of the corridor and furtively looking up and down it, making sure that Mr Filch wasn't going to make an appearance.

Carefully, she took the Marauders Map out of her pocket and tapped it with her wand, “ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,_ ” She rarely used the map, and thought that she might start using it more just so that she could watch in amazement as it came to life in her hands. Fred never used it either, but they had all agreed that it was much safer in his hands rather than in the hands of Ruby, who would definitely get it taken off her.

Jowell and Filch were both on the other side of the castle, Slughorn was walking out of the castle - presumably to Hogwarts, Peeves was wreaking havoc on the second floor and everyone else was in the densely packed Slytherin common room, so Lily headed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, glancing down at the map every now and then. Professor Sprout was in Greenhouse three, and Lily had to hurry past before she saw her, but she was so engrossed in looking after her Mandrakes, that Lily highly doubted she was anywhere near her, and the curtains in Hagrid's hut were closed, so Lily felt it safe to hurry past. It was only when she was in the Forest and out of sight that she felt calm.

“ _Lumos_ ,” she muttered, stowing the Map back into her jacket and tried to remember the path that she had walked with her mum and Fred. Coming into the forest on her own as the sun began to set, but if her mum had done it, why couldn't she?

It took her a little longer than it had done the first time, but she eventually found the clearing. The sun had completely set and had been replaced by the full moon. It was then that Lily realised coming here was pointless. It didn't change anything. It didn't solve any of her problems. It had just made her tired and achy from all of the walking. In an attempt to make herself feel as though she hadn't just wasted an hour, Lily began to look around, holding her wand light to the ground and looking for something to peak her interest. Nothing did. Nothing ever did, anymore.

There was a sudden rustling in the trees ahead of her and she jumped, holding her wand up. This would be ironic, she thought to herself, dying in the same place that mum did. She imagined that the Daily Prophet would love being able to play on that fact and was momentarily happy that she had probably made some journalist job easier.

The rustling stopped for a moment and Lily lowered her wand, thinking that perhaps she was hearing things but then it started again and, against her better judgement, she moved towards the trees, wanting to know what was making the noise. She gasped softly as she moved the leaves of the trees to the side, revealing a Mooncalf. She had never seen one outside of her Care of Magical Creatures book and she was very glad that tonight had been the night that she decided to come into the forest.

The Mooncalf was strangely cute, it had smooth, pale skin and a long neck. It's eyes were massive, blue and bulging and it was standing on its hind legs, moving slightly in the moonlight. Lily stood extremely still, staring at it open mouthed for a while. It must have sensed her presence for its eyes opened rather suddenly and it dropped down onto all four legs. There was a moment in which they stared at each other before the Mooncalf disappeared into the trees.

Feeling as though that night might not have been a complete disaster, Lily went to turn back around but something caught her eye and she stopped in her tracks. A small black stone that had half sunken into the ground was gleaming in a pull of moonlight. Curiosity getting the better of her, Lily stooped down and picked it up, looking at it more closely.

“ _Then I used the resurrection stone - it brings people back from the dead, not truly, though_ ,”

Lily gasped and her fist closed tightly around the stone. Could this really be the resurrection stone that Lydia had told them about? Her heart beating out of control, Lily began to throw it up and down in her hand, trying to think of the best thing to do. Should she go back to the castle, get the mirror and tell her mum? Or should she just drop it to the floor and pretend that none of this had ever happened?

The choice was ripped out of her hands for the whole forest suddenly lit up around her. Lily turned around and looked towards the source of the light. At first, she could see nothing but then the light came into focus and five people walked towards her; the first was a beautiful young woman. She had bright green eyes that Lily recognised and dark red hair. The second was someone who she thought was Uncle Harry, but it could not be for he didn't have green eyes and their was no scar on his forehead. The third person was very scarred, but he was smiling ever so slightly and had hair that Lily might have recognised on Teddy. The fifth person was effortlessly handsome and held himself with the sort of confidence that Lily could only ever dream of having. And the fifth person almost made Lily collapse for there was no way this could man could not not be her dad; he had the same hair, the same smile, the same freckles and even stood in the same way.

“Don't worry,” he said, and he even sounded the exact same as George,“I'm not your dad. Look, I have two ears,” and he pointed to the left side of his head where George didn't have an ear, “I'm your Uncle Fred,”

Lily stared at the five people before and slowly began to piece everything together, hesitantly putting names to face - Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, Fred. She gripped onto the resurrection stone tighter, terrified that if she dropped it, they would all go away before she could ask them every single question that she had ever hoped to ask them. But now that they were stood in front of her, she was at a loss of what to say.

“I know this is confusing,” Lily Potter said gently, “but you don't need to get worked up over it. What you have in your hand, that's the resurrection stone,”

“My mum used it, didn't she?”

“A long time ago,” Sirius said. He stared at her for a moment and then smirked, “I'd say you look like her, but you're probably bored of hearing that,”

“Like you wouldn't believe,” Lily muttered.

“I'll say you look like Harry then,” he said, winking.

“How are they?” James asked, “Harry and Lydia,”

Lily was taken aback for a moment when she realised that Harry and Lydia she knew were completely different to the Harry and Lydia that he knew, “Oh, uh, they’re - they're fine, yeah. I saw them t-today. With my dad and Uncle Ron,” she added, looking at Fred who nodded and smiled.

“How's Teddy?” Remus asked, a note of urgency in his voice.

“Also...also fine,” Lily told him, wishing that she could tell him something more interesting, “he, um, he's working for a Werewolf charity, trying to pass better laws,”

Remus nodded and then looked away from her for a moment.

Lily wasn't sure how long she stayed in the forest, but she realised that she had to get back to the common room before everyone woke up. Promising them that she'd be back as soon as she could, Lily slipped the stone back into her pocket and rushed back to the castle.

“ _Mischief Managed_ ,” Lily muttered, tapping the Map as she walked back into the common room.

“Lily!” Hannah exclaimed, “Where've you been?”

She jumped and looked over to where Hannah and Alex were sat, speaking in low voices. They were the only ones awake and the common room was still full of the mess from the previous nights party.

“I woke up early and went for a walk,” Lily said.

Alex narrowed his eyes at her, “You’re wearing the clothes you worse yesterday and you still have green on your cheeks,”

Lily felt herself blush. She hadn't even thought about that, “I know. I didn't have a shower last night and these were the first clothes I found this morning,”

“You weren't in your bed last night,” Hannah persisted, “Why do you have the Marauders Map? I thought Fred had it,”

“I was in bed last night,” Lily said, “but I didn't feel like coming to the party so I went and read in the Ravenclaw common room for a bit. I was back late so I took the map from Fred's bag. It's not like he needs it,”

“Alright,” Hannah said, though she sounded sceptical, “are you coming for breakfast?”

“Later,” Lily said, “I want to have a shower first,”

The moment Lily walked into the Great Hall and she saw Harry talking to Neville at the staff table, Lily knew that she wouldn't be able to keep a secret as big as this one. She hurried over to where Hannah and Alex were sat at the Slytherin table and grabbed the back of their t-shirts and dragging them out of the Great Hall to general protests.

“I was eating!” Alex yelled.

“Not now you aren't,” Lily snapped.

Hannah jerked away from her, “what's up with you? You're acting...you're acting weird,”

Lily shoved them into an empty classroom and closed the door behind her, “I need to tell you something,”

“What?” Alex asked.

She quickly dived into the story of going back into the forest and finding the Resurrection Stone. Alex's jaw dropped the more she spoke, but Hannah did not say anything. She just stood with her arms folded, frowning at her the entire time. Lily wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, and when neither of them said anything after she'd finished speaking.

“Listen, I know it's a bit weird but-”

“You can't keep it,” Hannah said finally.

“Why?”

“It's dangerous!”

“It brought my family back!”

“No, it didn't,” Hannah said, “Have you never read The Tale of the Three Brothers?”

“No,” Lily said, “Isn't that...isn't that a kids book?”

Alex nodded, “Yeah. And the Tale of The Three Brothers is probably the most famous one. Three Brothers meet Death and offers each brothers a reward. One chooses the most powerful wand in the world, another chooses a cloak of Invisibility and the other chooses a stone to bring people back from the dead,”

Lily frowned at them, not understanding what the big deal was, “it's just an old fairytale. It means nothing,”

“No, Lily, you don't understand. Death takes each of the brothers, including the one who asked for the stone,” Hannah said impatiently, “He used it and when he realised it didn't bring people truly back from the dead, he killed himself,”

“I'm not going to kill myself, Hannah!”

“With the way you've been acting recently, I'm not so sure!” Hannah snapped, “honestly, Lils, you can be so thick sometimes it's actually painful,” and she swept from the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Give her time,” Alex advised her, “Want to get food from the kitchens?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Lily muttered, following him out of the room.

As they made their way down to the kitchens, Lily began to convince herself that having the stone wasn't wrong. Hannah was just being dramatic. After all, Death himself at had said it in her book - I'm nothing if not fair. And what she was doing was fair. Being able to speak to her family after having them unfairly taken away from her was the epitome of fairness, and no one would be able to tell her otherwise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> -E.


	9. A Not Quite Intervention

Lily walked into Herbology with her head held high, determined to not look at Hannah who was sat in their usual seat next to Alex. She stomped past them and dropped into the seat next to Hugo and Louis. The two of them had very quickly realised that Lily and Hannah were not speaking to each other and did not want to get involved. Lily did feel quite sorry for Alex, though. He had spent the last three days running between the two of them trying to get them to speak to very little success. 

Neville gave her a funny look when she did not sit next to Hannah as she usually did but did not say anything. Instead, he just began his lecture and for possibly the first time in her school life, Lily did not listen to him, choosing to stare out into the forest and begin to count down the hours that she could go back in. She had been back every day since the Quidditch final and was in no rush to stop going. Only Hannah and Alex were aware that she had the stone and as far as she could tell, they had not told anyone about it. Lily didn't think they would tell anyone, anyway. They were far too Slytherin for that. 

That had not stopped either of them showing their dislike for her late-night excursions. Whenever Lily casually left the girls dormitory at night, Hannah would tut loudly and shake her head. Whenever Alex spent his lunch hour with her, he would try and convince her from going back. He had even gone as far as giving her a copy of  _ The Tales of Beedle the Bard _ . Lily hadn't read it and she wasn't sure that she was going too; she found books written by Muggle authors much more interesting and she still had around two hundred pages of  _ The Book Thief  _ left. She had already written to Aunt Hermione to tell her that she could do with another book to read. 

Really, Lily had never felt happier. 

The bell rang and Lily jumped up straight away, feeling as though the quicker she got to the next class, the sooner the day would be over and the sooner she would be able to get to the forest. As she rushed out of the greenhouse, she heard Hugo shout after her to wait but she ignored him and hurried up to Arithmancy, throwing herself into her seat before the second bell had even rang. Professor Vector looked quite shocked to see her in the classroom so early but said nothing. 

Minutes later, Hugo arrived in the classroom, huffing and puffing. Gasping for breath, he sat next to her and turned to her, clutching a stitch in his side and looking ever so slightly pissed off. 

“I know you and Hannah aren't speaking but Jesus Christ, you could at least wait for me!”

“It's not that,” Lily said, “I just didn't want to be late,”

Truthfully, Lily had not been giving Hannah a lot of thought. Deep down, she was hurt that her best friend was not speaking to her, but she couldn't bring herself to care enough. There were bigger things on her mind than petty arguments with someone who refused to see the other side of the argument. For the first time in her life, Lily was hearing stories that she had not been able to hear for her entire. Uncle Fred told her about Dumbledore’s Army, James told her how Lydia and Harry used to stand up to Professor Umbridge and Remus told her about the first time he met Lydia and Harry, and how he taught them how to fight the Dementors. 

And Lily could not understand how this was a bad thing. She could not understand how Hannah could be so against Lily finding out about her family, especially when she knew how frustrating it was for Lily to be constantly left in the dark all the time. It was nice to finally meet the people who had been nothing but pictures on the fireplace for her entire life. 

“Are you even listening to me?” Hugo asked. 

Lily jumped, “What?”

Hugo glared at her, “You’re so difficult to have a conversation with at times. I was saying that Fred had what can only be described as a nervous breakdown last night when he was revising his Charms notes. He got so stressed that he actually threw his book out of the window and I found it this morning when I was...” he suddenly turned red and quickly moved on, “when I had gone for a walk. On my own,” he cleared his throat, “Anyway, the point of the story is that you should try and ignore Fred for as long as possible because I don’t think that he would be against cursing people anymore,” 

“Yep...” Lily said absentmindedly as she took everything out of her bag, “Ignore Fred...I shall do exactly that,”

Lily knew that she should have probably asked Hugo what he had been doing when he found the book but she couldn’t bring herself to care enough because she suddenly found herself trapped by a dilemma: should she tell her cousins about the stone? There was no denying that they were all just as curious about the family as she was, and they would all probably love to meet them, but what if they all reacted like Hannah? What if they ran straight back to the castle to tell Harry? What would happen then? Lily knew that her uncle would not take to the Resurrection Stone lightly, and she did not feel like being on the receiving end of one of his disappointed looks, but it did feel wrong to keep it to herself and not share it with the rest of the family. 

Surely, Fred would want to meet the man he was named after and she knew that Ruby had always wanted to meet her other Grandparents. Lily was also sure that there wasn’t anyone in the family who didn't want to meet Sirius. And after the way everyone spoke so fondly of Remus Lupin, everyone would have killed to have at least one conversation with him. Teddy most of all. Lily sat her with head on her hand and stared blankly ahead of her, showing her cousins at school was one thing, but showing Teddy and James was quite another. The school year was fast approaching its end, and Lily had been gripped with anxiety thinking about what she would do with the stone when it was time to leave. Bringing it home was risky, but so was leaving it at school. There was always the option of leaving it in the forest, but with everything that lived in there, Lily could not be sure that she would find it when she arrived back at school for her fourth year. 

Showing the others, specifically Fred, Ruby and Rose seemed a bit cruel, especially with it being so close to their exams. The last thing any of them needed was to have another distraction in their lives, but whenever Lily thought about the light that filled up the clearing whenever she used the stone and the sound of her Grandmothers voice, she thought that perhaps it wouldn’t be something awful to be distracted by. Besides, Lily’s usually bad mood had been replaced by what could only be described as a cheerful one. The Bloody Idiot would not have been able to put her in a bad mood if he tried his hardest, and Lily felt as though that was a good enough reason to keep on going back to the Forest. 

“Are you sure you’re OK, Lils?” Hugo whispered to her, “You’re acting strange,”

“I’m fine, honestly, Hugo,” Lily whispered, smiling back at him.

She was so fine, in fact, that she wasn’t even angry at the find that Hugo found her being happy quite weird. 

 

\---

 

Fridays were Lily’s favourite day of the week. The last lesson of the day was History of Magic, which meant that she could skip the period without the fear of being caught out and getting in trouble, and keeping up with the lessons was always quite easy due to the fact that Alex was always able to make good notes. When the bell rang after Defence Against the Arts, signaling lunch, Lily would follow Hugo and Louis into the Great Hall, sit with Fred and the others until the bell rang again and people began to make their way to the final lesson of the week. 

No one ever noticed her slip away from the other crowd of third years going up to the History of Magic classroom and once she found a place to put the Invisibility Cloak on that she had stolen out of Ruby's bag without her noticing, getting to the Forest was easy. And the more that she walked in and out of the Forest, the less intimidating it became. With the Resurrection Stone safely in her pocket, Lily felt as though that nothing that lurked within the shadows could hurt her and sometimes didn't even hold her wand in her hand as she made her way to the clearing. Hannah would probably call Lily stupid for this, but then again, she didn't really care what Hannah had to say at the moment. 

This carried on for another week before Lily had her first close call. It was a Friday night and she was bored, so she did her usual thing of telling the other girls she was going to have a shower, despite the fact that she had already been to the Forest once that day. With the cloak and the map hidden from sight underneath her robes, Lily walked out of the dormitory and out of the common room, throwing the cloak over her the moment she was out of the door. 

“Who’s there?” an unnervingly familiar voice called, “it’s after curfew, you need to - oh, there’s no one there,” 

“Are you seeing this now, H? Maybe you should get your eyes tested,” another familiar voice said. 

Harry stood at the end of the corridor, holding the mirror. It took Lily a few moments to realise that he was obviously speaking to her mother through the mirror whilst he was on patrol. He looked down at it and rolled his eyes. 

“This coming from the woman who used to talk to herself whilst we were on the run,” 

“There was nothing else to do! And you lot weren’t much company,” Lydia exclaimed, “but, anyway, you were saying?”

He had still not moved and Lily was starting to get agitated. Waiting here was already wasting time and she didn’t trust herself to be able to walk past Harry without getting caught out. She knew that he would not be able to see through the cloak, but after sneaking around in it so much himself, Lily would not be surprised if he had developed a sixth sense and was able to sense when someone was hiding under an Invisibility Cloak. 

“What I was saying was that I think Lily and Hannah have had an argument because they aren’t spending time with each other,” Harry said, and Lily suddenly had no desire to go to the Forest because how often was it that you could hear your mum and Uncle talk about you behind your back? 

“How long haven’t they been speaking?” another voice asked, this one belonging to George. 

Harry shrugged, “I don’t know. They were speaking at the Quidditch final, I know that. It must have been afterwards then. Poor Alex has been running between the two of them, trying to get them to speak,” 

“I like Alex,” George said.

“You only like Alex because he laughs at your ear jokes,” Harry said, “and he probably on does that out of politeness. Someone accidentally cursed him once in my class and he apologised to them,” 

Lydia laughed loudly, “he is a nice kid...but that’s not the point. It’s not like Lils and Hannah to argue, is it?”

“Teenage girls argue all the time, Lyds, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about,” Harry said. 

“Me and Hermione didn’t argue that much,” Lydia pointed out. 

“And that’s probably a good thing, or you would have both blown the castle up,” George said. 

“Ha, ha, aren’t you funny?” Lydia said sarcastically. 

“Yes, actually, it’s what I’ve built my career on,” 

Although Lily could not see her, she was quite sure that her mother had just rolled her eyes. 

“Teenagers in general argue all the time,” Harry continued, apparently ignoring Lydia and George, “Remember our sixth year?” 

There was silence on the other end of the mirror for a few seconds until Lydia spoke again, “Yeah, well, I highly doubt that Lily and Hannah are arguing about what we argued about back then,” 

“Remember when you took points off me?” Harry said lightly. 

Lily heard George gasp loudly and then burst into laughter, “You took  _ points  _ off your own brother? Your  _ twin  _ brother?” 

“He was being a dick!” Lydia said loudly over the sounds of George’s hysterical laughter, “and I’m pretty sure he was out after curfew!” 

“Ah, yes, because you were never out after curfew, were you?” Harry said. 

“I just wasn't so thick that I got caught!” 

“You took points off me!” 

“For god's sake, Harry, it was only five points! It's not like I took fifty!”

Trusting Harry to be so engrossed in bickering with Lydia to notice anything happening around him, Lily snuck past him and opened the Marauders Map, making her way over to the Forest, her mind racing at one million miles per hour; there was every chance that Harry’s curiosity would get the better of him and he would ask either her or Hannah why they weren’t speaking to each other. Lily did not think that Hannah would tell the likes of Professor McGonagall or Professor Slughorn what they were arguing about, but there was every chance that she would tell Harry. And what then? If Harry was involved then her parents would  _ definitely  _ get involved and that was the last thing that Lily needed. 

Even more interesting, was Harry mentioning him and Lydia arguing again. Lily had never asked what they had been arguing about. As curious as it made her, she knew that they would never tell her but now she knew a group of people who would definitely tell her without hesitation. This thought spurred her on and she began to run through the castle, not caring about how much noise she was making and the fact that if a prefect or a teacher was to walk down the corridor they would, without a doubt, see her feet. One look at the Marauders Map told her that she was safe to carry on running and did not stop until she got to the clearing and turned the stone over in her hand. 

“Have you been running?” Sirius asked. 

“I need to ask something,” Lily gasped, completely ignoring her, “My mum and Uncle Harry. What were they arguing about?” 

Lily frowned at her, “When?” 

“Sixth year,”

All eyes turned to James, Remus and Fred. 

“I don't know,” Fred said, “I wasn’t in school then. George might have mentioned something once or twice but we were so busy with the stop all the time. That year was hard for us all, I think. It was the first year that Lord Voldemort was back in the open and no one really knew what to do,”

Remus nodded, “I was underground with the Werewolves most of that year. I missed out on a lot of what was happening at Hogwarts, and only saw the others that Christmas. It was just after a full moon so I wasn’t really with it,” 

Lily turned to look at James who had been uncharacteristically quiet. 

“It was a hard year,” he said carefully, “it was the year I worked at Hogwarts, the year after Sirius died. I think him dying had a bigger effect on the kids than we had expected it to. Afterwards, we went back to Dumbledore's office and Harry went...mad. He was throwing stuff around the office and screaming at Dumbledore, but Lydia was quiet. Which was weird. Usually when she’s angry she just lets it all out. Shouts a lot,” 

Lily nodded, “Oh, yeah, I know...” she would never forget the day someone called Teddy a “disgusting half-breed,” in front of Lydia. It was perhaps one of the greatest moment of Lily’s life and also the day that she realised no one could insult as well as Lydia Weasley. 

“But she just sat next to me. Barely looked up at Harry or Dumbledore. Just stared at her hands,” James confusing, “and then she just looked up at Dumbledore and said that she wanted out. She said that she didn’t want to fight anymore. She didn’t care about Voldemort or anything. She just wanted to be a normal person,” 

“Who could blame her?” Remus said, “They were only fifteen,” 

James nodded, “I know, and Dumbledore tried to convince her to see things his way but she’s never been very good at following authority figures,” 

“Good girl,” Sirius muttered, winking at Lily. 

“She said that she’d rather kill herself than go after Voldemort and have him kill her,” James said, tears sparkling in his eyes. 

Lily managed to stop herself from gasping out loud and glanced over at her grandmother, who was wiping tears from her eyes and shaking her head. 

“Can you blame her, though?” she said, “after everything...” 

“I don't understand what this has go to do with arguing with Uncle Harry,” Lily said, frowning. 

“Because, after that, everything changed. Harry became hellbent on finding Voldemort and killing him for what he had done. Lydia, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with that. For Harry, the best revenge was killing Voldemort. For Lydia, the best revenge was living for those who had died before her,” James explained, “and that lead to a lot of arguments. In fact, I’m quite sure that in their sixth year the only time they ever spoke was when they were arguing,” 

“So, they argued about the fact that mum wanted nothing to do with killing Voldemort?” Lily asked. 

James nodded, “Yeah. The worst argument was after a Quidditch match. It was Lydia’s first ever match. Slytherin against Gryffindor. And Lydia hadn’t told anyone that she was on the Quidditch team. She hadn’t told me or Ron or Hermione. She hadn’t even told Harry, and they told each other  _ everything.  _ Anyway, after the match, they had this massive argument about the fact that Lydia hadn’t told Harry that she was playing Quidditch. But they were like..screaming at each other, and after that...well, they weren’t the best of friends for a while after that,” 

“I don’t understand, though,” Lily said, “I don’t understand how she went from not wanting to have anything to do with Voldemort to then walking in here to get killed by him!” 

“I don’t think she ever planned on surviving the war,” James said, “From the things she used to say to me...I don’t think that was part of her plan,” 

His words hung in the air and Lily shook her head, “I don’t get it. I really don’t get it,”

“After James was killed, the rumors about Lydia being a Dark Witch got more intense,” Remus explained, “and she was the Potter kid who’d kill if she had to. She developed this quite terrible reputation that she hated, and I don’t think she ever felt as though she would be able shake them off after the war. She never said it out loud but we all knew it - winning the war was part of her plan, surviving it was not,”

“But she survived it,” Lily Potter said, speaking gently, “and that’s all that mattered. It isn’t something that you need to worry about,”

Lily slowly walked back to the castle that evening. Usually when she found out something that she did not know before, she would feel calmer but this time was different. This time, all she could think about was the fact that her mother had seemingly been suicidal for a good portion of her teenage years and no one seemed to do anything about it. And this only made Lily worry that her mother had never recovered. She had not planned to survive the war, and yet she did - so did this mean that everything that had happened afterwards had just been her going through the motions of life? Had she just gotten married, started a career and had children because that was what was expected of her? Had she never actually wanted the life that she was living, but now she was in too deep to get out? 

Lily cast her mind back to all the times that she had spent with her mother, trying to remember a flicker of sadness on her face whenever Lily asked if they could spend the day together, or when Fred or Teddy ransacked the house when they were back for the summer. But she could not think of anytime when she seemed upset at the prospect of having her children around her, in fact, Lily could not think of a time when Lydia was not smiling brightly when she around them. Unless she had just gotten good at hiding how she truly felt from them. And Lily doubted that Lydia ever regretted getting married. If she did, then surely she wouldn’t have a picture of her and George on their wedding day with Teddy in her office. That could just be her throwing people off the scent of the fact that she’s so unhappy, a horrible voice at the back of her mind said, mum isn’t stupid. She knows how to sneak around. 

Before she knew it, Lily was back in her dormitory and she automatically turned in the direction of Hannah’s bed to speak to her about what she had just found out, but when she remembered that they weren't speaking, she turned back around and crawled into bed, pulling the quilt over her head and squeezing her eyes shut, trying to block out everything that she had just heard. 

Hours later, and after a particularly horrible dream in which Lydia had announced that she was leaving the family behind, Lily woke up not feeling very refreshed. Groggily, she pulled her clothes on and dragged herself into the common room, planning on doing nothing but curling up and reading book. Her plans, however, were scuppered when she saw Fred, Rose, Ruby and Hugo all sat around, looking quite solemn. Automatically, Lily thought something horrible had happened and she hesitantly walked over to them, perching on the arm of the chair that Ruby was sat on. 

“What?” 

“We need to speak to you,” Rose said, sounding like her mother. 

“About?” 

Everyone turned to look at Fred who sighed, “ We’re staging an intervention,” 

“Why?” 

“Something’s wrong with you,” 

“No, I’m fine,” 

“Cut the bullshit, Lils,” Ruby said, “You’re hiding something from us,” 

“I-I’m not!” Lily exclaimed, cursing her voice for wobbling so much. 

“You keep on going into the Forest. I’m not stupid. None of us are,” Rose said, folding her arms and staring at her expectantly. 

“How’ve you worked that one out?” Lily scoffed, trying to sound as though she found the whole thing ridiculous. 

“By the fact that you spend half your time staring at it,” Hugo said. 

Lily stared around at them all and realised that there was no way she was going to get out of this one. Taking a deep breath and hoping that they would be able to keep this to themselves, Lily began to explain why she had been going into the Forest. No one spoke at first, not even after she had finished explaining. 

“This is...” Fred said quietly, “I mean - Lily, it’s - I just...I can’t believe - you know, I think. I just...fucking hell, Lily!”

“I know, it sounds crazy but...please,  _ please  _ just try it out for yourselves and you’ll understand,”

The first time they all went together was that night. At first, it was awkward. The five of them had to stand there, holding hands so that they could all see them at the same time. When Lily, James, Remus, Sirius and Fred appeared for the first time, Rose screamed, Ruby swore at the top of her voice, Hugo began to ask one million questions and Fred stayed silent, his eyes trained on their Uncle Fred, and Lily automatically knew what he was thinking. 

Lily squeezed his hand slightly, “That isn’t dad,” she said quietly, “I know it looks like him but...but it isn’t. Dad isn’t dead,” 

“I know,” he said quietly, “I know. It just...it looks like him,” 

“That’s what identical twins are, mate,” Uncle Fred said, “Identical,” 

Fred flinched slightly but didn’t say anything. Ruby was staring at her grandparents, her head tilted to the side slightly. 

“You look my dad,” she said to James. 

“I know I do,” He said, “that’s because I’m his dad,”

“Weird,” Ruby said. 

It took them a while, but they began to warm to their family. Hugo wasted no time in asking them as many questions as he could, which greatly amused Sirius. Rose immediately took a liking to Lily Potter and, in turn, Lily took a liking to her. It made Lily if her Grandmother and Hermione would get on as well they did. 

As Lily watched her brother and cousins interact with the people who had been so cruelly taken away from them, she wondered why on earth anyone could think that the Resurrection Stone was a bad thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> Once again, I am so sorry that this took so long to get up. I've got a lot going on at the moment, but I am going tot try and get things up as quickly as possible. I've also been spending a lot of time planning a head, so that I'm a bit more organised. 
> 
> I hope you're enjoying, though! 
> 
> -E.


	10. Not the End of the World, I Know the End of the World

The end of the school year had crept up on them, bringing with it bright summer days and a lot of exams. Lily was up to her ears in Transfiguration notes and still understand none of it. The only thing she knew she would definitely pass was Potions. When they left the Potions classroom after their final exam, Lily heard Hannah moan about how she hadn’t added enough Shrivelfig to her Shrinking Solution and felt a pleasant sting of satisfaction.

Lily was quite proud of herself for her introducing her brother and cousins to the Resurrection Stone, because they all seemed much happier for it. Fred wasn’t nearly as stressed about his exams after talking to Remus who seemed to be one of the few people in the world who could talk him out of a panic attack. When Rose got too stressed, James, Sirius and Fred were quick to tell a funny story to lighten the mood and Lily Potter always had ridiculously good advice that reminded Lily of her own mother.

“Your exam results don't define who you are as a person,” she said one evening, “your NEWTs aren't going to make or break you. Look at your Uncle George, he has two OWLs and no NEWTs,”

“We were late to every single exam, as well,” Uncle Fred added, “We probably turned up late to most of them, as well,”

“That doesn't mean that you can be late to any of them, though,” Remus said sharply, “You should turn up to all of them on time,”

Sirius snorted, “Or you can do what you want. It's a free country,”

“We should be getting back though,” Fred said, looking at his watch, “We have a Transfiguration exam in the morning,”

Lily dropped the Resurrection Stone back into her pocket and the clearing was bathed in darkness again. Amazingly, they still had time to get back to the castle before curfew and so took their time in walking out of the Forest and in quite a jovial mood, too for Hugo still struggled to walk through the forest without falling over.

“For fucks sake, Hugo,” Ruby sighed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back up for the fifteenth time in the space of ten minutes, “Watch where you’re going,”

“It’s dark in here!” he exclaimed, “I can barely see anything!”

“Have you ever heard of this spell called ‘ _Lumos_ ’?” Fred asked, “It’s quite useful,” he then had to duck as Hugo tried to punch him in the face.

They made it back to the castle with ten minutes to go before curfew. Lily turned in the direction of the dungeons just as the door opened and Hannah walked out, looking quite pissed off but Lily was quite sure that she always looked like that these days. Rose cleared her throat and muttered something about how tired she was, and Ruby and Fred were quick to follow suit, hurrying off. Lily and Hugo stayed where they were, staring at Hannah as though they had ever seen her before.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” Hugo said finally.

“No, you’re not,” Hannah said, “I want to talk to you both,”

“N-now?” Lily asked.

“No, in ten years,” Hannah snapped, “Obviously now,”

She stalked passed them and went into one of the unused classrooms off the Entrance Hall. Lily and Hugo exchanged apprehensive looks but followed her in, perching on the edge of one of the desks whilst Hannah paced up and down the classroom, looking quite frantic. Hugo started humming underneath his breath, which Lily thought was quite proud of him for Hannah looked as though she was ready to kill them both.

“I can’t believe you, Lily!” Hannah exclaimed.

“You can’t - what?” Lily asked, “What are you on about?”

“I can’t believe you dragged the others into this!” she yelled, “I can’t believe you would drag your own brother and cousins into this stupid Stone stuff!” she rounded on Hugo, “and you I can’t believe you would be so stupid to blindly follow her as though this is a good idea! Honestly, Hugo, I don’t understand how someone so smart can do something so stupid!”

“All I got from that is that you think I’m dim,” Lily muttered, folding her arms.

Hannah narrowed her eyes at her, “Yeah, actually, I do think your dim, Lily. You might be one of the dimmest people that I’ve ever met! Whenever something goes even slightly wrong in your life, you jump to the most dramatic conclusion that you can think of! When your parents don’t tell you anything, you walk around all ‘woe is me,’ instead of just talking to your mum or dad! You’re so thick at times, Lily, it’s actually painfully. You have the most amazing family, the most amazing life and you still act as though everything is shit and it’s infuriating!”

Lily jumped up, “I know what I’m like, Hannah, you don’t have to tell me anything!”

“If you knew what you were like, you would stop with all this Resurrection Stone shit! It’s dangerous!”

“You’re being dramatic, Han, it’s not dangerous,” Hugo scoffed, “How can it be dangerous? We’re not being hurt by it, are we?”

“Not right now, but you never know what’s going to happen when-”

The door suddenly banged open and the three of them jumped. Lily whirled around to face the door and jumped again, for a very angry Professor McGonagall was stood in the doorway, her lips pressed into a thin line. Behind her, Hugo groaned and Hannah swore under her breath. Arguing with each other was bad enough without McGonagall, of all people, finding them. Lily glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed, they were out of bounds and most definitely in a lot of trouble.

“What on earth are you three doing?” McGonagall asked.

“Nothing, Professor, we were just-”

“Arguing?” McGonagall snapped, “can I ask what about?”

Lily’s heart dropped to her stomach and she couldn’t bring herself to look at her Hannah or Hugo. This is it, Lily thought to herself, this is how we get found out. She tried not to think about her parents would react to finding out about the Stone, or even how McGonagall herself would. All she knew was that however they reacted, it would not be a nice thing to see.

“It’s just a stupid argument we had the other week, Professor, it’s nothing,” Hannah said, “We’re trying to work it out. It’s just not going very well,”

“Yes, the entire castle can hear that it’s not going very well, Miss Cherrie,” McGonagall said. She fixed the three of them with a piercing glare, but then her face softened, “I don’t know what's gotten into you three lately, but you need to sort it out. Get going, the three of you,”

Amazed that Hannah had not ratted them out and amazed that McGonagall hadn’t put them in detention, the three of them quickly hurried from the classroom. Hugo muttered a very quick goodnight and rushed off to Ravenclaw tower. Lily followed Hannah back to the common room in silence, but before they went in, Hannah rounded on her again and Lily braced herself for another screaming match. Arguing with people really was her least favourite thing in the entire world and she never had the energy for it.

“I’m still pissed off at you,”

“The feelings mutual,” Lily muttered.

A muscle twitched in Hannah’s jaw and, for a moment, Lily thought that she was going to punch her and braced herself for it.

“You’re such a dick, it’s unreal,”

Lily rolled her eyes, “I really don’t know why you have such an issue with it,”

Hannah laughed a horrible life and shook her head, “Of course you don’t, Lily. You’re so wrapped up in your own problems that you don’t even to stop to think about anyone else, do you?”

And before Lily could even start to understand what she had just said, Hannah had stomped into the common room. Lily stood where she was for a while, feeling slightly guilty until she remembered a story that Uncle Fred had told her about sneaking away from Filch, and she suddenly didn't feel so bad.

The next morning, Lily was sat in Defence Against the Dark Arts and feeling sorry for herself for no other reason than she just wanted to be in bed. She could barely keep up with whatever Harry was going on about and barely registered the bell ringing. It was only when Hugo poked her that she realised that the class was over and she was meant to be moving.

“Lily! Can I speak to you?” Harry called over to her, “You too, Hugo,”

They both groaned but stayed behind anyway. Once the classroom was empty, he walked over to them with a serious look on his face. Lily sighed and sat back down, knowing that this was going to be a long conversation that she didn't want to be a part of.

“Professor McGonagall told me about that argument last night,” he said, “It’s not like you two to argue with Hannah,”

“It’s nothing,” Hugo said, “People argue all the time. I don’t get why it's a big deal,”

“Something happening a lot doesn’t make it any less important when it happens to you,” Harry said, and Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes at him.

“You’re just be dramatic,” Lily shrugged.

“I don’t know what's gotten into you, Lily, but you never used to act this way!” Harry exclaimed.

“I’m just more confident than I used to be, is that a crime?” She snapped.

“I don't know what this is, but it's not confidence! You’re arrogant!”

“Have you ever met James?”

“James has grown up,” Harry said, “something you clearly have yet to do,”

Lily opened her mouth to point out that she was talking about the other James but quickly stopped herself. Hugo seemed to have noticed this and was looking at the floor. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up further. He looked more like his dad than usual.

“You are so like your mother at times it’s-”

“It’s what?” Lily asked, “it's what? Honest to Merlin, sometimes I don't know how to act! People tell me to be more like mum and then when I do, it’s not in the right way! I don't know what you want from me!” The bell rang, signalling the end of break, “I’ve got Arithmancy,” and she swept from the room before Harry could call her back.

\---

It was the day before the last day of term and everything felt so final. Lily had not thought about the fact that when she returned to school that September, Fred, Rose and Ruby would not be coming with them. She had only ever known Hogwarts with the three of them there, and she wasn't sure she liked the idea of them not be there. Though she was quite sure that Uncle Harry was secretly glad to see Ruby go, just so people would stop accusing him of favouritism every time he so much as looked at his daughter.

“Are you going to miss me, Lils?” Fred asked as they walked to the Forest for the final time.

“Probably not,” Lily said, “Hogwarts could do with less Weasleys,”

“That's true,” Ruby sighed.

“Shut up, Potter,” Fred said.

“Potter-Malfoy, actually,”

Giggling, they reached the edge of the Forest but before they could go in, Rose yelled for them to stop. She yelled so forcefully that they all did. Lily looked around wildly, expecting to see some great creature that caused her to shout so loud.

“Christ, Rosie!” Fred yelped, “Don’t be so loud!”

“The Tale of The Three Brothers!” She exclaimed, “We’ve become the second brother! Driven mad by it all!”

“What are you talking about?” Hugo asked, frowning, “The Tale of the who?”

“The Three Brothers!” Rose exclaimed, “The Deathly Hallows! We shouldn't be doing this. It's dangerous!”

Lily rolled her eyes. Rose was sounding a lot like Hannah and she was quite fed up of Hannah who had tutted loudly when she and Hugo had left the Slytherin common room earlier. Why Hannah still felt as though Lily needed her pointless opinion was beyond her.

“I really don't know what you’re talking about, Rose,” Ruby said gently.

“Whatever,” she said, “I’m not going in there. You lot can...you lot can do what you want,” and she turned on her heel and hurried back to the castle.

Fred watched her go for a minute but then turned back to the group, shrugging, “We can find her later. You know how stressed she gets even after exams are finished,”

All worries about Rose evaporated into nothingness the moment Lily turned the Stone over. Even though she had now come into the Forest more times than she could count to use the Stone, the breath still caught in her throat whenever the clearing was enveloped by that bright, calming light and Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Fred appeared.

Immediately, they launched in their conversations, picking up where they had last left off. It was now like they were talking to their closest friends who they had known each other. Which was only fair because they should have known these people forever. The quote from The Book Thief that Death says floated to the front of Lily’s mind again, “I am nothing if not fair,” and she felt at peace with it all again.

“We should probably go,” Ruby said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes after Sirius had finished telling a story from his school days, “We need to pack,”

“Yeah,” Fred sighed, “I don’t actually know where half of my stuff is,”

“Before you go,” Remus said hurriedly, “Could I...could I see Teddy?”

A silence like no other fell over the clearing and Lily and Fred glanced at each other. They had never discussed the possibility of showing Teddy the Stone. As much peace as it brought Lily, there was no guarantee that Teddy would feel the same but she could not bare to say no to Remus.

“Yes,” Lily said, “Yeah. I’ll see him soon,”

The train ride home was a subdued one. Rose was not speaking to any of them, and was determinedly staring out of the window, her back  
turned to them. Only Dominique and Louis seemed completely unaware of the apparent animosity in the compartment because they both seemed quite cheery in their conversation. Or maybe they knew that there had been an argument and was choosing to ignore it, instead choosing to focus on the Puffskein that was rolling around on the floor.

The train shuddered to a halt and Rose hurried off the moment the doors opened, leaving half her things behind.

“Rosie!” Hugo called, “You forgot your bag - oh, Merlin...”

“What is wrong with her?” Dominique asked.

Fred shook his head and sighed, “she’s just stressed about her exams even though they’re over. You know what she’s like,”

This answer seemed to satisfy Dominique who just nodded, agreeing that she did indeed know what Rose was like.

By the time they had gotten off the train, Rose was already stood with her parents, and Lydia was stood on her tiptoes trying to look through the crowd, obviously terrified that something had happened to Lily and Fred between the train stopping and them getting off it. From where she was stood, Lily could see her dad telling her to calm down, but he was clearly being ignored. Lydia’s hand was already gripping onto her wand in her hair by the time Fred called, ‘Mum!’ over to her.

“There you are!” She exclaimed, running over to them and enveloping them both in a hug so tight that their heads were knocked together, “I thought you’d got lost!”

“Between the train and the platform?” Fred asked, rubbing his head, “Even we wouln’t be able to manage that,”

“You can chill now, love,” George said to Lydia whilst he hugged Lily, “They’re fine,”

Lily could barely bring herself to look at her dad. It was as though Uncle Fred was alive again, and it was too much to bare, even for someone who didn't know him when he was alive. Fred seemed to be thinking the same thing and instead went to talk to Teddy, though Lily found even that too painful. It was cruel, really, the way that they had built up a relationship with Remus and he had not been able to.

“Where’s Hannah and Alex?” Lydia asked, glancing around the platform.

Lily clenched her jaw, her mum was clearly under the impression that she had no idea that she knew about the argument. Instead of giving her the satisfaction of a counselling session, Lily muttered something about how they had been sat with the Slytherin Quidditch team but it was okay because they were planning on meeting up in the summer.

Lydia gave her a sceptical look but just nodded and put her arm around her shoulders, “I’m glad you’re home, Lils,”

Draco walked up to them, smiling, “We’re having a leaving party at Grimmauld Place tonight. For Rose, Ruby and Fred,”

“We are?” Fred asked.

“Yes,” Teddy grinned, throwing his arm around Fred’s shoulder, “and all planned by your favourite brother!”

“So it’s going to be a long night for us all, but I often find that Firewhiskey helps,” George grinned, “but a responsible amount of Firewhiskey,” he added, when he noticed Aunt Hermione staring at him with her hands folded, “I’m obviously not encouraging my son or my nieces to get as drunk as I did when I left school,”

Lily laughed and then quickly stopped. Uncle Fred had told them that story once in the Forest, and she suddenly felt an unbearable sadness when she realised that her dad had lost one of the most important people in his life when he was so young. She glanced over at Teddy and Fred and shuddered at the thought of having to lose them or any of her family members. She didn't understand how he could still laugh and make jokes after everything.

“You alright, Lils?” George asked, frowning at her.

“Yeah, just tired,” she muttered.

“Firewhiskey often helps-”

“You are not giving your fourteen year old sister Firewhiskey, Teddy,” Lydia said sharply.

“See you later, Rosie!” Fred called, waving to her.

Rose did not look particularly happy when she waved back at them, and then quickly turned her back on them. The Ressurection Stone felt even heavier in her pocket when Lydia and Aunt Hermione exchanged confused looks, and Lily wondered how much longer they would be able to keep the secret between them. She didn’t think that keeping a secret as big as this one from Aunt Hermione would be an easy task, and she certainly did not trust Fred to keep his mouth shut after two glasses of Firewhiskey. Lily shoved her hands into her pocket and closed her hand around the Stone, hoping that she would be able to keep it for a little while longer.

“Do you want to invite Hannah and Alex tonight?” George asked as he helped her put her trunk in the boot of the car.

“Hannah’s got a thing with her sister,” Lily lied, “but I can ask Alex. I don't think he’d say no,”

At that moment, Alex walked by with his mum. Lily really liked his mum. She was the first Muggleborn to marry into the family and liked to wear muggle clothes to family parties just to annoy the more conservative members of the family. Alex had a great picture from a family party where everyone was wearing robes with the exception of him and his mum, who were both wearing jeans.

“Alex!” Teddy called across the car park, “We’re having a party at Harry and Draco’s, do you want to come?”

“Sure!” Alex yelled back.

“That was easy,” Lydia sighed, waving to them, “Do you know how difficult it was for me and Harry to get to The Burrow?”

“I think one of my favourite moments in life was when we ruined the Dursley’s living room,” George sighed.

Lydia nodded, “it was a nice moment. I wish we had a picture,”

Lily had no idea what they were talking about and just got in the car. It became clear that neither Teddy nor Fred did either because they just shrugged and climbed in after her. Lydia slid into the drivers seat before George could and slammed the door in his face. He groaned and walked around the passenger side. He could drive, but Lydia never trusted him enough to do so.

“I can drive, you know,” he grumbled.

“Not very well,” Lydia said absentmindedly as she pulled out of the carpark, “You’re too Pureblood to drive well,”

“What's that meant to mean?” He asked, sounding offended.

“Purebloods think they’re invincible when it comes to Muggle stuff,” she said, “You do it, your dad does it, Ron does, Draco _certainly_ does it,”

Their bickering lasted them the entire way home, and by the time Lily had lugged her trunk into the living room, her head was pounding and all she wanted to do was curl up in bed. Teddy and George went to look after the shop for the rest of the afternoon and Fred announced that he was going for a nap and would curse the first person that tried to wake him up before they had to leave for the party.

“I’m going to-” Lily began but Lydia held up her hand.

“Woah, not so fast, sit,”

Lily frowned at her mother but sat down anyway, “What?”

“What's going on?” Lydia asked.

“Nothing,”

Lydia narrowed her eyes at Lily, “Please, Lily, I spent my entire teenage years telling people I was fine when I wasn't. You can't lie to me,”

“Honestly, mum, I'm fine,”

“Harry told me about you and Hannah,” she said, “and that argument you and Hugo had with her,”

“Oh, so you and Uncle Harry are talking about me behind my back now?”

“What? No!” Lydia exclaimed, “We were just worried. It’s not like you and Hannah to argue!”

“Right, well, we are arguing. It's not that big of a deal!” Lily snapped. She jumped up and stormed passed Lydia, completely ignoring her calls for her to come back.

Lily slammed her bedroom door shut behind her and flopped down onto her bed, cursing as her eyes filled with tears. Now that she was back home, and had left Hogwarts without even saying goodbye to Hannah, Lily felt terrible. Even though she had acted like she didn't care about the fact that she and Hannah weren’t speaking, she missed her more than she thought she would. She was sure there was a way to keep the Stone and her friendship with Hannah, but she hadn’t quite figured that out yet.

The door opened and Lydia walked in. Not wanting to speak to anyone, least of all her mum, Lily rolled onto her side so that her back was facing the door. Lydia sighed and Lily felt her mattress sink slightly as Lydia sat down but she didn't speak straight away.

“You know me and your dad only want you to be happy, don't you, Lily?” Lydia said quietly, “I spent a lot of my childhood and teenage years extremely unhappy, and I don't want that for you,”

Lily still didn't say anything. She was sure that if she ignored her long enough, Lydia would just go away.

“In my fourth year, our teacher put the Imperius Curse on us, to see if we could fight it off,” Lydia continued. Lily wasn't sure why she was telling her this because she couldn't care less about something if she tried, “your Uncle Harry and I were the only people who could fight it off, and I finally figured out why the other day; it wasn't because we were stronger than the others, it was because our minds automatically knew that something was wrong because we were so at peace. It was the calmest that I'd ever been,”

“What's that got to do with anything?” Lily muttered.

“Because I never want you to be so unhappy that you have to experience an Unforgivable Curse to know what true happiness is,” Lydia said, “I’m only ever as happy as my unhappiest child,”

Finally, Lily sat up to face her mum. She was leant back against the headboard of the bed, her arms held out.

“Come on,” she said quietly, “whatever's happened, I'm sure I can fix it,”

Despite herself, Lily moved to where Lydia was sat and sat next to her, dropping her head onto her shoulder. Lydia put her arms around her and she instantly began to feel better.

“What happened?”

“It's nothing,” Lily said, “it was just a stupid argument,”

“About what?”

For a moment, Lily really considered telling her mum everything about the Stone, but something stopped her.

“I just...” Lily sighed and cast her mind around for the best lie that she could think of, “People always compare me to you and I'm sick of it, and Hannah is apparently sick of me going on about it,”

Lydia snorted, “I know how you feel,”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” Lydia said, “Merlin, Lily, when I was at school all everyone did was compare me to Harry because he was the better Potter Twin. Then they compared me to my mum because she was this amazing, brave woman and I was none of those things. I was angry, annoying and cursed people who said something even slightly mean about me,”

“Yeah, but you can stand up for yourself!” Lily exclaimed, “I can’t!”

“I couldn't stand up for myself, I could just be really, _really_ sarcastic,” Lydia said, “but, listen, I don't want you to be like me anymore than I want Fred to be like dad. I just want you to be you. The rest of the world might want you to be me, but I don't want you to be me. And I don't think you want to be me, either,”

Lily nodded, “I know, but it's just annoying,”

“Life is annoying,” Lydia told her, “but, really, there's no problem in the world that you me or your dad can't fix, and you and Hannah arguing isn't the end of the world. Just write to her, apologise and then move on. Life is too short and too precious to argue with friends. And there's no point in getting all worked up about it, it's not the end of the world,”

“It's feels like the end of the world,”

“It's not the end of the world, believe me. I know what the end of the world looks like,”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!!
> 
> I hope you're still enjoying this!! 
> 
> -E.


	11. Not the Second Brother

The summer holidays were dragging, and Lily was longing to get back to school just so that she had something to do all. She knew that if she just wrote to Hannah and apologised, then summer would stop dragging because she'd have something to do other than moping around and feeling sorry for herself. Alex had written to the two of them and said that he would refuse to spend time with them until the sorted themselves out. 

Though there was something much more important playing on Lily’s mind. She could not get the fact that Remus had asked to see Teddy out of her head. Since she was no longer at school, there was no safe place to use the Stone and the fact that she had gone so many weeks without using it made her feel strangely guilty. Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo were all on holiday in Spain and Ruby was away with Harry, Draco and James, leaving very few people to talk to. 

There was always Fred, of course, but he was working in the shop with George and was always too tired to talk about anything serious when he got home. Lily also didn't want to pile anymore stress on him. The NEWT results were due to arrive soon and whenever someone brought them up, he would go very pale and start talking loudly about the weather. As if the NEWT results weren't already stressful enough for him, he needed top marks to start working with Mr Ollivander that coming September. Why anyone would want to spend their day in that dusty old shop learning how to make wands, Lily would never know.

“Don't you think it would be amazing to find out how our wands really work?” Fred said to her earnestly when he had told her that Mr Ollivander said he would accept him if he passed his NEWTs, “Don't you want to know how they can actual channel our magic?” 

“No,” Lily said bluntly, “it sounds far too complicated,”

“You won't be saying that if you ever break your wand and need a new one,” he said lightly. 

Lily knew that she should speak to Teddy, but she had no idea how he would react to the Stone. Something told her that he would not react well to it and she didn't feel like arguing with him. More importantly, if they did start arguing then Lydia or George would  _ definitely  _ find out and then everything would blow up in their faces. 

Instead, Lily spent most of her days lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and wondering what normal teenagers did in their summer holidays. She never quite got the answer, but she was quite sure that most didn't pine after dead relatives that could be contacted through a stone.

And on the rare occasions that she wasn't thinking about the Stone, she would be gripped with anxiety at the realisation that she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Going into her fourth year meant that the OWLs were closer than ever, so all her teachers had been banging on about how they should start to seriously buckle down and think about what they wanted to once they left school because, “Hogwarts isn't forever,’

With the only thing she was good at being Potions, Lily could not imagine that she would have a career in anything but that. She liked the idea of having her own Potions lab and being able to block out the outside world for a few hours a day whilst she worked. Professor Slughorn had once casually mentioned her being Potions Master at Hogwarts one day, but Lily wasn't sure that was something she would be cut out for. Uncle Harry would probably love it though. 

The fact that all her other cousins seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do was not helpful either; James was now the top Keeper in the league, Victoire was working with Teddy and Lydia at the Werewolf charity, Dominique wanted to work at Gringotts with her dad and Louis was willing to do any job as long as it involved magical creatures. Come November, Ruby was going to join the Tutshill Tornados reserve team and Rose was already working at the Ministry (though, she was working as far away from the Ministers office as she possibly could and she wanted everyone to be aware of that). Infuriatingly, even Hugo had a vague idea of what he wanted to do when he left school. Lily had asked him the day before he went on holiday and she found herself quite annoyed at the fact  that he already some sort of plan in place. 

“I want to do something with Ancient Runes,” he said absentmindedly as he read through a particularly long letter that someone had sent him, “maybe a teacher...maybe a researcher...” 

Lily was too stressed about the fact that she had no idea where he life was going to take any interest in whoever had written Hugo a letter the length of  _ War and Peace.  _ She just groaned loudly and picked up the latest book that Aunt Hermione had sent her,  _ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. _

“Why don't you just read full time?” Hugo suggested. 

“Unhelpful,” Lily muttered. 

Two weeks before the end of the holidays, the Weasley-Lupins sat in a tense silence around the kitchen table. Lily sat with her hands clasped in front of her, staring at her older brother who was staring at the thick piece envelope in front of him as though it might explode. Teddy was sat next to him, his hand clapped over his mouth to stop himself from bursting into laughter, George was sat back in his chair, his arms folded and Lydia was sat at the head of the table, staring intently at Fred. Aunt Ginny had come to visit from France and was leant over to the back of Lydia's chair, her hands clasped in front of her and looking quite bored. 

The NEWT results had arrived with the morning post and Fred was refusing to open them. 

“Freddie, for fucks sake just open them!” Teddy finally exclaimed. 

“Language!” Lydia said. 

“Sorry, but he's being annoying!” Teddy said, “Fred, open them! You’re going to have know eventually,”

“I could ignore them for the rest of time,” Fred said, looking up at them all, “I don't need to know,”

Lydia sighed and put her hand on his, “Freddie, you need to know what grades you’ve got to know if you can start that internship with Mr Ollivander. But we’re still going to be proud of you, no matter what you got,” 

“But we’re not going to be proud of you if you don't open the damn thing,” Teddy snapped. 

Ginny sniggered loudly but quickly shut up when she saw that look that Lydia gave her.

“Fred, come on, mate,” George said gently, “You need to open them,” 

Rather looking like a man who was about to find out if he was going to die or not, Fred slowly opened the envelope and took out the parchment inside. Lily felt herself hold her breath as Fred's eyes scanned the parchment. He did not react a first and then finally sighed, but Lily couldn't tell if it was a sigh of relief or not. She glanced over at Teddy who had now stopped smiling, and was staring at Fred as though he was on his deathbed. 

“I've passed everything,” he said finally. 

“You've not just passed everything, you’ve got O’s in everything!” Teddy exclaimed, “Ten O’s!”

Someone outside the house might have thought that there had been an explosion with the amount of noise that the five of them managed to make. Lydia all but leapt across the table to hug Fred whilst screaming about how proud she was of him and George and Teddy started to do an awfully strange dance around the kitchen table, yelling, “TEN O’s! TEN O’s!” over and over again.  

Ginny dropped into the seat next to Lily and grinned at her. Lily managed to grin back, but she felt her heart sink slightly. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for Fred, because she was. She knew how hard he had worked to get the grades that he did and she was more than aware of how much he wanted to work with Mr Ollivander, but that didn't change the fact that her life had just been made even harder. Somehow, she was going to have to live up to Fred. 

Fred, who had never gotten anything under an O in every exam he had ever taken in his life. Fred, who was going to start working under one of the most respected men in the country, and at such a young age, too. And she still had to do as well as Teddy who had been Quidditch captain and Head Boy. And then, of course, there was he whole thing of never being able to live up to her parents, especially her mother. 

“Are you OK?” Ginny asked her quietly after Rose and Ruby had floo’d to tell them what they had achieved. 

“Fine,” Lily replied, “Just stressed about the Transfiguration homework that Jowell set us,” 

“Need help?” Ginny asked, “I was positively average at Transfiguration at school,” 

Lily laughed and shook her head, “No, it's fine. Alex said he’d help me. He's a lot better at Transfiguration than I am. Jowell actually likes him,” 

“Teachers liking you is overrated,” George assured her, “I don't think there were many teachers that actually liked me or Fred being in their classes,” 

“You always come across teachers you don't like, anyway,” Lydia butted in, “I had three that I definitely disliked and then two I disliked at the end of the year,” 

“Who?” Lily asked, genuinely puzzled. 

“Disliked Snape, Lockhart and Umbridge all year round. Only disliked Quirrell and Moody - I mean, Crouch - at the end of the year,” she replied.

“I never had Quirrel,” Ginny sighed. 

“You weren't really missing out on much, Gin,” George said, “the fact that Voldemort was sticking out the back of his head wasn't particularly great,” 

“The fact that who was sticking out of where?” Teddy asked, almost toppling off his chair. 

“Quirrell had Voldemort sticking out the back of his head,” Lydia said far too casually, “he was a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and not a very good one,” 

“They never mentioned that!” Lily said without thinking. 

Fred's head snapped up from where he was sat on the couch. HIs eyes were wide and he was shaking his head over and over again. Lily's heart dropped to her stomach and she tried not to let shock register on her face. She could not believe that she could be that stupid.

“Who didn't?” Ginny asked. 

“You lot,” Fred said quickly, “You never mentioned it,” 

Lydia gave them both funny looks and then shrugged, “I don't know. It's a weird thing to bring up to your kids, isn't it? “Hey, once we had a teacher who had the face of a genocidal maniac sticking out the back of his head, and he tried to kill me! Well, have a good day!’” 

“I wish you wouldn't talk about all the times you've almost been killed so casually,” Teddy muttered, ‘it freaks me out,” 

“This is what my school days were like,” Ginny laughed, “Harry and Lydia making jokes about almost being murdered and everyone else being really uncomfortable,” 

“It was a healthy coping mechanism!” Lydia protested, “kind of,”

\---

Lily was bored. She sat in the storeroom of Weasleys Wizards Wheezes, spinning around on the chair and wondering why her life was so boring. Whenever Uncle Ron, her dad or Fred would walk into the room, she would tell them that she was bored and they would tell her that they couldn't do anything about that and then walk back out onto the shop floor. 

At the back of her mind, an annoyingly reasonable voice kept on saying, “if you just apologised to Hannah, you probably wouldn't be this bored,” but Lily kept on ignoring the voice and instead listened to the less reasonable voice who was repeating, “it's not everyday you get to speak to your dead relatives, is it? Hannah will always be there, they might not be,” over and over again. 

Hugo falling ill whilst he was on holiday was not helping matters, either. Uncle Ron had told her that he was lay in bed feeling sorry for himself and she could go and see him, but only if she wanted to catch the flu as well. And with Dominique, Louis and Vicky all still in France, it gave Lily very little do. The fact that she could not use the Stone was not helping her moods either. The sooner she got back to Hogwarts, the better. 

The door opened again and Fred walked in, followed by George who was looking quite stressed. He closed the door behind him with a snap and closed his eyes, leaning back against it for a moment before opening his eyes again. 

“I love my job, I just don’t love the customers,” he groaned, “someone genuinely just asked me for a box of Dr Filibuster's Fireworks! We’re so much better than Dr Filibuster!” 

“Did you tell them that?” Lily asked. 

“Yes! And he said that he thought we were all the same person!” 

“To be fair, I thought you were all the same person for a good three years,” Fred said.

“You wound me, Freddie,” George sighed. He looked over at Lily, “What are you doing today?” 

“I don't know,” Lily said, “be bored, I guess,” 

“Why don't you go and see Ted?” George suggested, passing a portable swamp to Fred, “ _ Don't  _ drop that, it’ll go everywhere,” 

Fred took it gingerly in his hands and hurried out of the store room. Lily could not understand why he had chosen to work at the shop out of all the places in Diagon Alley, but she supposed it was easier than having to go out and find another job. 

“Okay,” Lily said, jumping up, “I’ll see you later,” 

Teddy had finally moved out a few weeks ago, and was living in a block of flats that bordered muggle London. One half of the flats were muggle owned, and the other half belonged to wizards. The Wizards were meant to avoid the muggle part as much as possible, but it was much quicker to cut through. Though there was nothing about her that screamed Witch, she still hurried through and kept her head down, just in case. 

“Lily!” Teddy exclaimed happily when he opened the door, “I didn't know you were coming today,” 

“I had nothing else to do - oh, Merlin this is messy,” she said as she walked in. 

Teddy grimaced, “I know. Grandma hasn't been to see it and that's probably for the best. She’d probably put me into an early grave if she saw how much of a mess it was,” he flicked his wand, clearing up some of the mess, “Don't tell mum how much of a mess it is,” 

“Please, mums messier than all of us put together,” 

“What's wrong?” Teddy asked suddenly. 

“What? Nothing,” she said hurriedly.

“Come on, Lils, you can't lie to save your life. What's going on?” He persisted. 

Before she could stop it, everything came spilling out. She told him about Lydia taking her and Fred into the forest and how she went back on her own and accidentally found the Resurrection Stone. And then she told him about she had kept on going back to speaking to them, and how Hannah had not spoken to her for months because of how angry she was at her. The only thing she did not tell him was that their cousins had been going too, because she didn't want to drop them into it. 

“...and your dad...your dad asked to see you,” 

For possibly the first time in his life, Teddy was speechless. Lily sat with her knees drawn up to her chest on the couch, barely able to look him in the eye. She expected him to be angry, but he just seemed more shocked than anything else and that might have been worse. 

“You...you spoke to my dad?” He asked after a short silence. 

“Yes,” Lily said, “he said that he wanted to speak to you,” 

“No,” Teddy snapped, taking her by surprise, “No. It's dangerous, Lily, and you know it is,” 

Lily rolled her eyes, “It's not-”

“Merlin, Lily! You aren't stupid, you must know this isn't safe! You can't genuinely think that it's healthy! You're living in a fantasy land! You're acting like these people are real!” 

“They are!” 

“They're dead!” He yelled, “Dead! And they have been for years!” 

Lily jumped up, “You have no idea, Teddy! If you spoke to them you'd realise they’re as real as they can get! I've spoken to Uncle Fred and Sirius and-”

“You've spoken to  _ echoes  _ of them, Lily,” Teddy said, “they're not real. You’ve never met Uncle Fred or my d-dad,” 

“Mum saw them! Mum used the Stone before she went into the Forest!” 

“For fucks sake, Lily!” Teddy exclaimed, “She was going into the Forest to  _ die.  _ She wasn't meant to come back out! You’re meant to come out of the damn Forest and if you carry on like you are, you might not!” 

She rolled her eyes at him again. She was fed up of people in her life being over dramatic about everything, “Why does it feel like every damn person in my life thinks I'm going to off myself?” 

“No one thinks that you’re going to off yourself, Lily,” he said impatiently, “but the Stone is dangerous. Have you ever read The Tale of the Three Brothers?” 

“No,” Lily said, “Hannah and Alex mentioned it once and-”

“Did they tell you what happened to the second brother?” 

Hannah's voice seems to echo around her mind,  _ “No, Lily, you don't understand. Death takes each out of the brothers, including the one who asked for the stone. He use it and when he realised it didn't bring people truly back from the dead, he killed himself,”.  _ She did not understand how she had completely forgotten about that piece of information but, even worse, it did not scare her. 

“I'm not the second brother,” she said. 

Teddy stared at her for a few moments and then shook his head, laughing under his breath, “What would mum and dad say?”

“Don't tell them,” Lily said earnestly, “Please, Ted, whatever you do, don't tell them!” 

“I won't,” he promised, “but if your mood slips or if I think something terrible is happening, I will tell them,” 

On the final day of the holidays before term started again, they all piled into The Burrow to eat through a magnificent feast that Grandma Molly made. For a while, it was easy to get lost in the comforting company of her family and not worry about the upcoming year. She wasn't worried about having to see Hannah again, navigating her way through the school year without being found out about the Stone and keeping her head above water in Transfiguration. Instead, she sat and joked with Uncle Charlie, promised Uncle Draco that she would do her very best to annoy Uncle Harry in Defence that year and assured Molly, Uncle Percy’s eldest daughter who was starting Hogwarts that year, that James and Uncle George were just joking about how scary the castle was. 

It was only when she crawled into bed that night that she realised that Teddy and Hannah might have been right. Maybe the Stone was dangerous and she was digging her own grave without realising it. But when she thought about how excited she was to see her deceased family again, all worries disappeared from her brain as quickly as they had come. 

“I'm not the second brother,” she whispered to no one in particular. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading, and also thank-you for all the lovely comments. They’re very much appreciated! 
> 
> Hope you’re all still enjoying this! 
> 
> -E.


	12. Friends Again

Lily was starting to think that there was something wrong with her. She woke up ridiculously early on the first day of September despite barely having slept. She had tossed and turned all night, slipping in and out of sleep. When the sun rose and the birds had stared to sing, she threw her covers off her and started to pack her trunk. By the time she had located everything and had managed to close the trunk over her cauldron (with great difficulty) the rest of the family were awake.

“Lily! You need to - oh,” George faltered as he opened the door and found her up, “You're awake,”

“I know. I couldn't sleep,”

“Why?” George asked.

She shrugged, “I don't know. I just couldn't sleep,”

He frowned at her, “Everything ok?”

“Yeah,” she said, “I'm fine,”

“Okay,” he said, though she had the sneaking suspicion that he didn't believe her, “Breakfast?”

Lily accepted a stack of toast off her dad despite the fact that her appetite was slowly but surely deteriorating. She slowly nibbled on a piece of toast until Fred groggily walked into the room and dropped into the seat next to her. Without her parents noticing, she slid half of the toast onto Fred's plate and dropped the rest into the bin.

With only Lily attending school now, the morning was a lot laid back than it usually was and she actually had time to try and sort out her hair, something that she often did not have the time to do. Unfortunately, she had inherited her mother's hair and trying to force it into some kind of socially acceptable style was like fighting a losing battle, no matter how much Sleekeazy's Hair Potion Potion she put on.

“You would have thought that Grandad Fleamont would have developed a potion that helped with our hair,” Lydia said from the doorway.

Lily smiled at her mother in the mirror, “I know. I wish I had Fred’s hair,”

“All Weasley’s have great hair,” Lydia said, “apart from us, apparantely,” she paused for a moment, “Are you sure you're OK, Lily? You seem a bit...down,”

“I'm fine,” Lily lied, even though she was sure that she as far from fine, “I'm just tired. I couldn't sleep last night,”

“You barely ate any breakfast,”

Lily inwardly groaned. She could not understand how Lydia managed to notice everything, no matter how sneaky Lily tried to be. She probably wouldn't be surprised if Lydia knew about the Resurrection Stone all along.

“I know. I'm not hungry,” Lily said, trying to sound as casual as possible, “I think I might be coming down with something,”

Lydia stared at her for a little while longer and then nodded, “Alright. Go and see Madam Pomfrey when you get to school, yeah,” she walked out of the room and then popped her head back in moments later, “Also, you're looking after Molly on the train. She's terrified about starting today,”

“That's fine,” Lily said.

King’s Cross Station was, as always, packed. Someone banged into Lily and she actually fell through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4, much to Fred's amusement. He came stumbling out after her, holding his sides from laughing so much. Lydia and George walked out afterwards, early trying to hold in their laughter. Lily hit Fred in the arm and snapped at him to grow up, but this just amused him even more. So she stomped away from them all and stood by Uncle Percy and Hugo. Molly was cowering behind Percy and looked like she wants to be anywhere else.

“What's up with you?” Hugo asked her.

The sound of Fred's laughter stopped her from answering and he had to grip onto Hugo for support. Uncle Percy gave Fred a funny looked and Lily put her head in her hands.

“Someone banged into me and I fell through the barrier and onto the platform,” Lily grumbled.

Hugo sniggered and Lily glared at him.

“It wasn't that funny!”

“It was,” Fred said, wiping the tears from her eyes, “It was a great start to the month, I must say,”

“Whatever,” she muttered, turning away from him and looking at Molly, “Excited?”

“No,” she muttered, “I don't want to go,”

“Everyone's scared on their first day,” Lily told her, “I was, but you’ll be fine, I promise,”

“And the sorting isn't scary, is it, Lily?” Percy asked, giving her a pointed stare.

“Uh, no,” Lily said, lying through her teeth. She had yet to forget how terrified she was on the day of her sorting, “No. It isn't scary at all. Just make sure you get sorted into Slytherin with me,” she added cheerily.

Somewhere on the platform, a whistle blew and people began to pile towards the doors, shouting good-best to their family. Lily quickly said goodbye to her parents and promised that she would write to them at the end of the week to tell them that she was OK. They told her the same thing at the start of every school year and as tiresome as it was, Lily knew that promising to behave herself and to not do anything stupid was the only thing that calmed her mother down.

“And if you need anything, go to-”

“Uncle Harry or Neville,” Lily finished, “yes, mum, I know,”

“I know you know,” she sighed, kissing her forehead, “have a good term, and I'll see you at Christmas,”

Lily nodded and picked up her trunk, dragging it over to the train, but before she could get there, Fred grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Lily rolled her eyes and turned to face him, expecting him to carry on laughing about how she fell but she was shocked to see that he actually looked quite serious.

“What?” She asked.

He glanced at Lydia and George who were saying goodbye to Hugo and then back at her, “The Stone. Do you still have it?”

“Yes,” she said, “Why?”

“I just-” he sighed, “I think Rose was right. I think it's dangerous,”

Lily clenched her jaw but stopped herself from snapping at him, “I've got it under control, Freddie,”

“I know you do,” he said quickly, “I just don't want you getting hurt, that's all,” he hugged her, “Just...be careful,”

“I know,” Lily said, “I will be,”

He smiled at her and then turned to hug Molly who looked like she was on the verge of tears, “Come on, Mol, you’ll be fine. You’ll love school! I wish I was going back this year!”

“Yeah,” Lily said, holding out her hand, “Come on, we’ll go and find Dominique and Louis,”

All in all, the train journey up to Hogwarts was quite boring. Lily sat by the window, staring out into the countryside, her fist closed around the Resurrection Stone in her pocket. The sooner they got there the better. It had been so long since she had used it and she felt as though it might have been driving her insane. She did feel better knowing that this was probably the reason for her bad moods though, and it was not something more serious.

If she had not been so focused on the Stone, she might have been slightly hurt by the fact that neither Alex nor Hugo were with her, and that Alex had not even come by their compartment to say hello. It was only when she got off the train and she saw them walking to the carriages with Hannah that she realised.

Her heart sank slightly as she watched the three of them walk up to the castle together, but her upset was quickly replaced with anger at the three of them, particularly at Hugo and Alex. As her cousin, Lily felt as though Hugo should have been on her side throughout this ridiculous argument. Somehow worse though, Alex had told her that he wouldn't spend time with either of them until they sorted out.

“Nice to know who your real friends are,” Lily muttered.

“Huh?” Dominique asked as they climbed into the nearest carriage, “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Lily said, “I was just I'm starving,”

“Ugh, you and me both,” Dominique sighed, collapsing back into the seat and massaging her stomach, “I’ve been thinking about this feast all day. Well, that, and what house Molly is going to be sorted into,”

“Either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff,” Lily said, thoughtfully, “Although, I wouldn't mind her getting sorted into Slytherin so I'm not the only Weasley there,”

“Nah, I don't think she'll get sorted into Slytherin,” Louis said.

“A girl can dream,” Lily sighed, thinking that it would actually be nice to have one of her cousins in Slytherin with her, it probably make her feel less strange about the fact that she was the only cousin in Slytherin.

“A girl could also eat an entire Hippogriff now,” Dominique grumbled, “it's a figure of speech, Lou, don't get your wand in a twist,” she added when Louis angrily opened his mouth, “Oh, thank Merlin,” she said when the carriage came to a shuddering halt, “Have I mentioned I’m hungry?”

“Once or twice,” Louis muttered, jumping out after her.

Lily followed them up the steps of the Entrance Hall and almost walked into the Great Hall, but the Resurrection Stone seemed to start buzzing in her pocket and she couldn't tell if she was imagining things or not. Really, there was no need for her to see the Sorting. She'd find out what house Molly was in eventually and she could hold off eating for a little while longer and she had both the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders Map stored safely in her robes.

“I'm just going to the bathroom,” Lily said to Louis and Dominique, hurrying away before either of them could call her back.

Once she was out of sight from any other students or teachers, Lily threw the Cloak over her head and tapped the Map, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” As she could have predicted without the map, everyone was in the Great Hall and she quickly hurried out into the grounds, keeping a watchful eye out for anyone who might have been skiving off the feast, too.

Lily whipped the Cloak off of her when she got deep into the Forest and tread the familiar path back to the clearing. It was strange, being there alone after getting used to having Fred, Hugo, Rose and Ruby with her. She hadn't really thought about how strange this next year would be without Fred, Rose and Ruby there. She had, after all, only ever known Hogwarts with them.

All anxieties about facing the year without her brother were pushed out of her mind the moment she turned the Stone over in her hand and the clearing lit up around her. Automatically, Lily felt herself calm down and her mood suddenly shot upwards. It was almost as though she had not spent the last few months feeling terrible about everything.

Immediately, they picked up their conversation where they had last left off and it was as though Lily had not been anyway. Uncle Fred, James and Sirius all made her laugh hysterically whilst Remus and her grandmother were quick to reassure her that although she was starting her fourth year and OWLs were just around the corner, it really wasn't anything that she should be stressing about.

“Fred got all O’s in his NEWTs!” Lily exclaimed, “and Dominique didn't get anything under an E in her OWLs! I know for a fact that I'm not going to do nearly as well in-”

“What everyone else gets doesn't matter,” Remus said gently, “The most important person is you. You shouldn't be focusing on other people,”

“And whatever happens, you’ll do better than your dad,” Uncle Fred interjected.

James nodded, “And you'll definitely do better than your mum at Potions. You know she once told me that she disintegrated an entire row of desks in a Potions lesson once,”

“Yeah,” Lily laughed, “Yeah, that sounds like her,” she looked at her watch and sighed. The feast would probably be coming to an end soon, “I should get back, see you later,”

She dropped the Stone back into her pocket and began the walk back up to the castle. When she got into the corridor leading up to the Slytherin common room, she glanced around and pulled the cloak off her.

“Lily!”

Lily jumped and turned around to find Hannah stood there. The first thing Lily noticed about her was how terrible she looked. There were deep bags under her eyes and her skin was worryingly pale. Her robes seemed to be hanging off her and her hair looked a mess. She did not at all look how she usually did.

“Hannah, what's-”

“Have you just been in the Forest? I didn't see you at the feast,”

“Yes, I have,” Lily said, holding her head up, “What's wrong with that?”

“What's wrong with - are you seriously asking me that, right now? After everything I told you about the Tale of the Three Brothers last year?” Hannah snapped, “People kill themselves over shit like this, Lily!”

“I’m aware of that, thanks, but even though the world and his wife seemed to think that I'm going to kill myself, I'm actually not!” Lily yelled, “You just don't get it!”

“Oh yeah, Lily, I don't understand it at all, do I? I have no idea what it's like to lose someone!” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, “It's not as though my dad died when I was eleven and my sister offed herself this summer because she couldn't deal with any of it!”

Lily was frozen on the spot, staring at her with wide eyes, “Wait, no, Hannah, I'm sorry, I had no idea-”

“Just fuck off, Lily, I don't want to talk about it with you,” and she stormed away from her.

“Don't go after her,” a voice behind her said.

Lily turned around to find Alex. He was stood in the entrance of the common room, his arms folded, shaking his head.

“I've been with her since we got on the train she's...a mess,” he sighed, “I'm sorry I didn't come and find you. I was going to but then Hannah burst into tears in front of me and well, you know, she never cries,”

“No, I get it,” Lily said, her voice quiet, “I just - I don't get why she wouldn't tell me,”

Alex shrugged, “Probably has something to do with the Stone. I don't think she'd want to be tempted,”

“Guess so,” Lily muttered.

What she really wanted to say was that the Stone wasn't nearly as bad as either of them thought. That it really helped Lily, and that it would probably help Hannah as well. It might have even help the rest of her family, but Lily decided she would hold off on that. They probably needed time to heal before talking to them through the Stone.

Alex sighed again, “We should probably go to bed before Filch finds her,”

“Yeah,” she said, “hey, what house is-”

“Hufflepuff,”

Lily nodded, quite proud of herself for getting something right for once.

\---

The next morning, Lily woke up with a plan fully formed in her mind. She would put her pride aside, apologise to Hannah and then start being a proper friend. Hannah, however, rushed out of the dormitory early the next morning before Lily could think about saying a word to her.

Groaning, Lily quickly pulled her robes over her head and hurried up to the Great Hall. She saw Hannah sat on her own at the very end of the table and she dropped down into the seat next to her, casually pouring herself a goblet of orange juice. Hannah stared at her with narrowed eyes and shuffled away from her slightly, almost completely turning her back on her as she poured cereal into her bowl, but Lily wasn't refuse to break down.

“Ah, Lily, so lovely to see you! How was your summer?” Professor Slughorn asked as he moved down the table, handing out their timetables.

“Fine, thank-you, Professor,” she said, taking the timetable off him.

Her heart sank slightly as she looked at it, History of Magic and Transfiguration in the same morning? But then History of Magic gave her and idea and she excitedly turned to Hannah, who was looking over her own timetable.

“Skip History with me?” Lily said.

“Why in the name of Merlin would I do that?” Hannah snapped.

“Because I want to apologise,” Lily said, fighting to keep her voice calm.

Hannah glared at her but she still nodded, “Fine, but I'm not going to promise to forgive you,”

“Fine,” Lily said, “it's up to you,”

The bell rang and the Great Hall slowly began to empty. Lily and Hannah planted themselves in the middle of the ground and blended in with a group of fifth years who were walking outside to Herbology. They crept around the back of the Greenhouses, pulled the Invisibility Cloak over their heads and slowly walked over to the lake, hiding behind a massive oak tree. No one would be able to see them there, but Lily kept the Marauders Map open on her lap, just in case a teacher decided to come for a morning stroll.

“Look,” Lily said, “I'm sorry for being such a nightmare last year, but that doesn't mean that you couldn't have told me about Beth,”

“We weren't speaking,” Hannah said stiffly.

“Jesus Christ, Han! I wouldn't have - this is important!” Lily exclaimed.

“You sound like a month,”

“I just spent two months with my mum, give me a break,”

Hannah laughed and then shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes, “I just didn't want to burden you with it. I didn't want to speak to anyone about it, because the more I speak about it the more real it becomes but-” she groaned and tore the grass up at her feet, “it is real and it's really, really shitty!”

“What happened?” Lily asked, “you don't have to tell me,” she added hurriedly.

“Everyone says I need to talk about it,” Hannah muttered, “So, well...she never coped well with dad dying. They had a massive argument two days before he died and she never got the chance to make it up to him, and it destroyed her, Lils. She couldn't cope with the fact that the last thing she said to him was that she wished he wasn't her dad,” she shook her head, “and it didn't matter how often we told her that he would have known she wasn't being serious, she just couldn't get it into her head,”

“Is that why she, you know...”

“Part of the reason,” Hannah said, “the only thing she wanted in life was to say sorry to him, so for the past three years or however long it's been, she's been working day and night to try and find a way to reawaken the dead. Then, some knobhead who she worked with told her to read the Tales of Beedle the Bard, particularly the Tale of the Three Brothers,”

Lily didn't really want her to carry on with the story, but she knew that there was no stopping her now.

“And she read it, and she found out about the Resurrection Stone,” Hannah was staring blankly ahead of her, “so she wanted to look for it, or at least make one herself. But she couldn't do it. And then, I don't know, she must have thought that the only way that she would ever get to apologise to him is by dying,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes, “I found her, in her room. Completely cold and completely dead,”

“Hannah, I am so-”

“Please, don't tell me you're sorry,” she said, “I am fed up of people constantly telling me that their sorry...but now do you understand why I hate that Stone so much? How do I know that you're not going to be driven mad by it like Beth was? How do I know that I'm not going to walk into the Dormitory one day and find you dead like I found her? I can't - I can't lose anyone else,”

Lily looked away from her, “It's not like that, Hannah,”

“Funnily enough, that's exactly what Beth said to me and mum three days before she killed herself, so forgive me if I find that hard to believe,” she snapped, but then her voice softened, “Look, Lily, I just want to be friends again. I miss you. Life's too short to be arguing! It's also too short to be chasing dead relatives!”

“I know,” Lily said quietly, “I know. You're right,”

“Can you at least promise me that you'll get rid of the Stone?”

“You know I can't, Hannah,”

Hannah nodded, “Can you promise me that you’ll try and stop?”

“Yeah,” Lily said, “Yeah. Of course,”

The bell rang and Hannah groaned, “Ready for Transfiguration?”

“I would rather di-” Lily quickly stopped herself.

“It's alright,” Hannah said, smiling slightly, “I'd rather die than sit in a classroom with Professor Jowell for an hour as well,’

Walking to Transfiguration with Hannah put Lily into a ridiculously good mood. Such a good mood, in fact, that she didn't even get the usual sense of foreboding she got before every Transfiguration class. Both Hugo and Alex looked visibly shocked to see them on good terms and the look on their faces amused Lily further.

“You're friends again?” Hugo asked, a hopeful note in his voice.

Hannah nodded, “Friends again,”

“Thank fuck for that!” Alex yelled at the top of his voice.

Professor Flitwick who had passed them in the corridor at the exact moment Alex had swore tutted loudly at him, “Ten points from Slytherin!”

“Sorry, sir!” Alex called after him, “I think Slytherin might have minus points at the moment,”

But Lily couldn't really care about the points system. She was just happy to have her best friend back on her side.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> Also, if anyone gives a shit, I just made a Tumblr so if you want to follow me on there, it's - E-Sawyer.tumblr.com 
> 
> It's either going to be full or writing or just a load of rubbish, or both. Who knows? 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this! 
> 
> -E.


	13. Not so Bad

Lily yawned loudly and snatched up the last cupcake before Hugo could. They were sat in an empty classroom off the Great Hall and ‘working,’. They had thought that getting food from the kitchens would help them get stuff done, but it did not quite work out that way. Lily wasn't sure why she was surprised at the fact that they hadn't been doing any work; they were hard workers on their own, but were useless when together.

“What I need to do is find a way to avoid The Bloody Idiot for ever,” Hugo said thoughtfully, breaking off a piece of Honeydukes chocolate.

“What you really need to do is stop obsessing over him,” Lily replied, finally closing her Transfiguration book and giving into her own laziness, “You know, you're as obsessed with him as mum always says Uncle Harry was obsessed with Uncle Draco,” she grinned over at him, “maybe you'll get married!”

“Except I'm not gay,” Hugo said quickly.

Lily raised her eyebrows at him as he blushed bright red. She lowered her voice, “Hugo, are you-”

“No!” He snapped, “No. I am not,”

“Alright, alright, alright. It was only a question,” she said, then she glanced back up at him, “but it would be totally fine if you-”

“I know it would be fine, Lily! We did grow up in the same family, remember?”

They fell into silence and Lily stared out of the window for a while, wondering if she would have time to get to the Forest before it got too dark. She had told Hannah that she wasn't going as much as she used to, but that didn't mean she had stopped going completely.

“Do you still have the Stone?” Hugo asked out of nowhere.

Lily didn't say anything, she just nodded. Hugo had not asked to go to the Forest once since coming back for the new school year, and she wondered if Hanah had gotten through to him.

“I want to use it. One last time,” he said, “I just want to move on from it, and I think you should, too,”

“Yeah, yeah, I will,” she lied.

\---

“I know you think you're not doing well in Defence, but you actually are,”

Lily sat with her head resting on her hands as Uncle Harry went through the first two essays of the year. He liked to check on every one of his students at various points in the year which was fine, but only when Lily didn't feel like she failed miserably at every single thing she tried to do. And she felt like she failed miserably at every single thing she tried to do more often than not. She even felt as though her Potions grade was suffering and that was not a feeling she was used to having.

“I only got twenty on that last essay!”

“Lily, every single one of you got under twenty on that essay. You're meant to do bad on that essay, it's OWL level,” Harry said, shuffling through the other essays on his desk, “And you got one of the highest marks in class, behind David Addington-Oakes and Hugo,”

“Don't tell Addington-Oakes that he's top of the class or we’ll never hear the end of it,” Lily said quickly.

Harry sniggered but didn't say anything. He placed her essays to the side, “Listen, Lily, I know that you sometimes lack in confidence-”

“Sometimes?”

“But you are smart,” Harry continued, completely ignoring her, “You just need to believe that you're as good at Defence Against the Dark Arts as you are at Potions,”

Lily looked away from him. She didn't feel like sharing the fact she had barely gotten over fifty percent on her last Potions test with her Uncle. The lowest mark that she had ever gotten in Potions before this was ninety eight percent. Even Professor Slughorn had not praised her when he handed the test back.

“I know,” Lily said, looking back up, “I know. I just need to start studying more and-”

The fireplace beneath them suddenly burst into flame and Lydia came toppling out of it. Lily screamed and Harry spilt his cup of tea all over him.

“Jesus Christ, Lyds!” Harry bellowed, “You didn't tell me you were coming tonight!”

“I wasn't planning on, I've not even been home yet, I've come straight from work,” she gasped, “it's just...oh, Merlin, it's awful...”

“Is it dad?” Lily asked, suddenly terrified.

“No, no, love, your dad is fine...its just...” She put her head in her hands and shook her head, “Astoria has died!”

Lily gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. Harry groaned and put his head in his hands, shaking his head. They had all known that Astoria had been ill for quite some time, but Lily had had no idea that it had gotten this bad. The last time she had saw Daphne, she had been bragging about how well her sister was doing and how she was the healthiest she had been in a long time.

Suddenly, the Resurrection Stone felt heavy in Lily's pocket. She slipped her hand into her pocket and closed her fist around it, staring down at her knees. Would Daphne appreciate the Stone? Would anyone in the Greengrass family appreciate the Stone? Lily highly doubted that they would, but surely Astoria dying gave her all the more reason to hang onto the Stone a little longer - there would come a day when Daphne would be ready to use the Stone and then Lily could show it to her and she could see her sister one last time.

Lily looked over at her mother, who had dropped down into the seat next to her and had accepted a quite large glass of wine off Harry. She could just confess about the Stone now and get it out of the way. Lydia would understand, it wasn't as though she was the kind of parent to constantly shout at her children. In fact, she never shouted at her children and there wasn't any reason to believe that Lydia would quite suddenly change her parenting tactic so suddenly.

“Are you OK, sweetheart?” Lydia asked, pulling Lily out of her trance.

“Yeah,” Lily said, realising that she couldn't put her mother under any more stress than she clearly already was, “Yeah, no, I'm fine,”

“Death...death can be a hard thing to deal with, but it's a part of life,” Harry said slowly, “It comes for us all in the end and it’s nothing to be afraid of,”

“To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure,” Lydia said quietly. She turned to Lily and smiled, “I'm not clever enough to think of that quote but we can pretend I am,”

Lily forced a laugh and said that she was tired, so she was going to bed. Lydia made her promise to speak to someone if she got too upset about Astoria and, after promising that she would do just that, Lily hurried out Harry's office and slipped into a secret passageway hidden behind a tapestry. Heart beating out of control, she leant against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep lying to everyone about the Stone.

Using the Stone had been so much easier the previous year when Hannah was out of the way and Fred and their cousins had all been apart of it. When she wasn't alone with the Stone, it didn't feel as though she was doing something wrong, because there was a part of her that knew that keeping the Stone was wrong. She knew that she never should have picked it up in the first place and, upon realising what it was, she should have not used to the point that it had spiralled out of control.

Lily wasn't so stupid to think that this was a healthy hobby for her to have, but as soon as she was in that clearing and talking to her family, all those thoughts disappeared, and she was sure that she was doing was healthy. She was at her happiest when she was sat cross-legged in that forest, taking in all the stories that her living families refused to tell her, and so she made her visits there longer and longer, desperately trying to outrun the feeling of complete and utter hopelessness that would make itself at home when the Stone went back in her pocket.

And as Lily thought about what Daphne must be going through at that moment and how just the thought of possible losing Fred or Teddy sent Lily's mind into her overdrive, that familiar sense of hopelessness began to cloud her brain. Knowing she would never get any sleep if she went back to the common room in this state, Lily pulled the Marauders Map out of her pocket, threw the Invisibility Cloak over herself and began the long walk to the Forbidden Forest. She was quite sure that she would be able to get back to the castle before Hannah began to get suspicious. After all, as far as Hannah was aware, Lily was still with Harry going over her work.

“What's wrong?” Was the first question Lily Potter asked when Lily turned the stone over three times in her hand.

“Daphne's sisters died!” Lily exclaimed, “and I don't - I don't know what to do! I feel like I should tell my mum or Daphne or _someone_ about the Stone but I don't know how! Everyone I could tell is probably stressed out of their heads now and this-” she gestured wildly at the echoes, “-this is the last thing that any of them need!”

Lily Potter was the one to answer after the others all looked at her expectantly.

“We can't tell you what to do. You're the only person here who knows what you truly need to do, and the only person who _can_ ,”

“I know...” Lily moaned, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, “I just don't know what to do...I just feel so sorry for Daphne,”

“Astoria was such a lovely girl,” James said, nodding sadly, “I remember her from the one year I worked at Hogwarts. And so was Daphne, actually, she was always nice to your mum,”

Remus nodded, “I think Astoria was in her first or second year when I taught her. Either way, she was always a delight to have in my class, as was Daphne. I remember, she was the only Slytherin who didn't laughter at Lydia during the Boggart lesson. I even heard her shouting down Pansy Parkinson one lunchtime when she was laughing about it,”

Lily was too distressed to ask about the Boggart lesson. Usually, she would jump right in and ask about what he was talking about, but now all she wanted to do was disappear and not talk to anyone for at least the next three days, but that wasn't really an option for her.

“It's too big a secret to keep, isn't it?” Lily asked, “making excuses for why my uniform is weirdly dirty or why I’m always tired! I don't know how much longer I can do it for!”

“Keeping secrets isn't fun,” Remus said, “I had to keep a big secret for most of my time at Hogwarts, and it wasn't enjoyable. The difference between me and you is that I _had_ to keep the secret. You don't have to keep this secret,”

Lily nodded, “I know, I know...I just...everyone will be pissed off about it, and I'm fed up of people forever being pissed off at me - Hannah was pissed off with because of the Stone and she would be even more pissed off at me if she knew where I was now, Jowell is forever pissed off at me because I'm not doing well in his class and, even though she'd never say it, mum is pissed off at me because I'm such a disappointment!”

“That's not true,” James said sharply, “Lydia would not be pissed off at you. No one is pissed off at you,”

“It's easy to say that when you never see them,” Lily snapped, “you don't know how people treat me!"

“Then show us,” Sirius said suddenly, “you're the only person who’ll ever be able to see us,”

It was risky, and maybe the stupidest thing that Lily had ever agreed to, but she nodded anyway.

\---

Astoria’s funeral was held a week later. Lily had never been to a funeral before, and when she sat in her bedroom on the morning of it, pulling dark robes over her head, she decided that she didn't like them. The atmosphere in the house was strange. Lydia was very quiet and only spoke to say good-morning or tell them to start getting ready and even George was worlds away from his usual self.

Her bedroom door opened and Fred walked in. He looked tired. Sometimes, he worked longer hours than even Uncle Draco and was currently running on less than four hours sleep. Lily did not think that the fact that he had had so little help was going to go well for anyone involved. On any other day, this would probably be funny.

“I'm so, so, _so_ tired,” he whispered, collapsing onto her bed, “I tried to make my first wand last night,”

“Did it go well?” Lily asked.

“No,” he sighed, “It disintegrated in my hands. I didn't even know wands could do that!”

Lily managed to not laugh, “Well, it's only your first. I don't think anyone was expecting it to be perfect, were they?”

“Mr Ollivander did say that he would have been more shocked if it had actually worked,”

“Are you two ready?” George asked, popping his head around the door.

“Yeah,” Lily said, standing up from the mirror, and chucking her pyjamas onto the bed.

George looked at Fred and smiled slightly, “Come on, Freddie. We can't be late,”

“I know,” Fred muttered, “but I'm the kind of tired where it actually hurts to keep my eyes open,” he groaned and stood up, “is it wrong to leave funerals early?”

“No,” George said, putting his arms around his shoulders, “All you have to do is show your face and then you can come home and nap,”

“Oh, thank god,” Fred muttered, “I can't remember the last time I had a full eight hours sleep,”

Astoria was to be laid to rest on the grounds of the Greengrass family home. As they walked over to where the group of mourners were stood, Lily stuck as close as she could to Fred and Teddy, not really knowing how to act. They didn't seem to know how to act either, because they were both staring at the ground and rather looked as though they would have liked it to swallow them up. The three of them immediately made a beeline for the rest of their cousins, all of whom were looking as awkward as they did. Ruby was shuffling her feet in the ground and James’ eyes were darting around the crowd, as though he was trying to work out correct funeral etiquette. Victoire and Dominique were speaking quietly to each other in French whilst Louis stood with Molly and Lucy, clearly terrorising them with whatever magical creature he had in his hands.

The adults, who had probably been to more funerals than most of the people there put together, seemed supremely calm. They stood in a small group, talking quietly and occasionally letting on to old school friends or teachers as they arrived. When Professor Slughorn arrived, Lily turned her back on him, knowing that the last essay she had handed in was terrible and not at all up to her usual standard. Fred seemed to notice this and frowned her, but she quickly shook her head. The last thing she needed was her brother needlessly worrying about her.

“I'm freezing,” Rose whispered, wrapping her arms around herself, “I hate October weather,”

“Honestly, Rosie, we’re at a funeral, and you're complaining about the _weather_?” James whispered to her.

“Shut up,” Rose said, rolling her eyes, “No one finds you funny,”

“And everyone finds you incredibly insensitive,”

“I've never met a more annoying person in my entire life,” Rose snapped.

“I have,” Hugo piped up, “David-”

Teddy shoved Hugo’s shoulder, “If you mention him more than five time today, I will go full werewolf on you,”

“You technically can't go full werewolf,” Fred pointed out to him, “You aren't a full werewolf,”

“No one cares about your technicalities, Freddie,” Teddy sighed.

“I'm just saying that you can't go around telling people that you're a full werewolf when you aren't!”

A hush fell over the congregation of mourners as the Greengrass family walked over to them, surrounding those who were carrying the coffin. Ever so slowly, Lily reached into her pocket and picked up the Ressurection Stone, turning over without taking it out of her pocket. She tensed slightly as the echoes surrounded her, but no one looked around in shock. Sirius had been correct, only Lily could see them.

“I wish I could have looked in on my own funeral,” Sirius muttered.

“You didn't have a funeral,” James said, “you wouldn't be looking in on anything,”

“You know what I mean, Prongs,” Sirius sighed.

As Lily could have predicted, the funeral was extremely painful. Mr and Mrs Greengrass seemed unable to look up from the ground and Daphne sobbed her way through what was really a quite touching eulogy. Though the only thing that Lily could take any notice of was what the echoes were looking at; Uncle Fred seemed unable to take his eyes off George, Lily, James and Sirius were all staring intently at Lydia and Uncle Harry, and Remus was staring at Teddy, tears sparkling in his eyes. At one point, Teddy had turned around to make sure that Ruby was okay and, unbeknownst to him, had looked his father straight in the eyes, who immediately began to cry. This only made Lily even more emotional than she already was; she felt awful about the fact that Teddy’s father was stood right behind him and he had no idea.

“C’mere, Lils, it's alright,” Teddy said quietly, putting his arm around her.

All Lily really wanted to tell him that nothing was right because everything seemed to be going all wrong; she only ever seem truly happy around dead people, she was failing everything in school - including Potions -, she was lying to her best friend and her family and felt as though her brain was going to explode. But she didn't say any of this, she just rested her head against Teddy’s shoulder and closed her eyes, wishing that there was a spell that would make everything right again.

Once the coffin had been lowered into the ground, they slowly began to make their way back over to the house. George walked over to Lily and put his arm around her, kissing the top of her head. An action that would have usually made her feel better only made her feel worse. Uncle Fred was practically stood beside him and her father had no idea about it. Lily chanced a glance over at Uncle Fred who, for the first time since she had saw him, was not smiling but had a look of complete and utter sorrow on his face. She looked away from them and over at Lydia and Harry who were walking with Draco and Dominique. Lily Potter, James and Sirius seemed glued to them, and Lily couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Lydia or Harry suddenly noticed their parents walking besides him. And then she felt another wave of sadness at the realisation that Lydia and Harry should have always had their parents walking besides them, but Voldemort had not allowed for that to happen.

“You don't have to stay, you know,” George said quietly and brushing the hair out of her eyes, “You can go home if you want, Freddie is,”

Lily shook her head, “No, I want to stay,”

Really, Lydia wanted nothing more than to go home, but she couldn't bare to take away the echoes chances of spending time with the people they deserved to be able to spend time with. As the evening wore on, it was quite nice to look around the room and see the ghost-like figures sticking closely to those who they had been ripped away from; Uncle Fred followed his surviving family members around like there was no tomorrow, and Remus stuck as closely to Teddy as he could. Sirius found James Sirius quite amusing and James and Lily were never too far from their own children. And as Lily took all this in, she couldn't understand how anyone could see this as something terrible. Especially as she watched Uncle Fred and George sat side by side, as they should be.

“Not so bad,” Lily whispered to herself.

Someone touched her shoulder and she turned around to find Fred and Rose. When she first saw them, she thought that they might know something about the Stone because neither of them were smiling, but then she remembered that they were at a funeral so they probably wouldn't be smiling as much as they usually do.

“Do you still have the Stone?” Rose asked.

“At school,” Lily lied.

“Are you going to get rid of it?” Fred asked earnestly, “because I really don't think that it's a good idea for you to be using anymore. It was nice at first but now it's just...it’s just dangerous,”

“It's in one of my drawers in my dormitory, I haven't used it this year,” Lily said, wondering if the fact that she was becoming so good at lying was a problem, “I think I'm going to get rid of it. For good,”

Both Fred and Rose visibly relaxed at this and managed to smile at her.

“Good,” Rose said quietly, “it's for the best,”

Lily's eyes flickered over to where Lydia was stood next to her own mother and Lily wondered if what Rose was saying was true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> Once again, I am SO sorry about the fact that this has taken me ages to update but I have not given up on this, and that's all that matters! 
> 
> -E.


	14. The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

The first bell of the day rang and it took everything that Lydia had in her to actually get up from the Slytherin table and walk down to the dungeons. Ever since her Potions marks had been suffering, Lily had began to dread spending three hours a week sat in the stuffy classroom and having to listen to Professor Slughorn go on with himself. For the first time, Lily was actually beginning to understand why so many people thought that Slughorn was annoying. He just wouldn’t shut up. 

“Come on, you, move it,” Alex said, poking her back, “We’re going to be late,” 

“Would that be so bad?” Lily asked. 

Alex frowned at her, “Yes? Potions is your favourite subject, isn’t it? You never usually like to be late to it,” 

Lily shrugged and quickly backtracked. The last thing she needed was Alex thinking that she was actually as depressed as she often felt.

“I’m just not feeling it today. I’m tired,” she said. 

“You’ve not started going to the Forest again, have you?” he asked anxiously. 

Lily shook her head and, for once, she was actually telling the truth. She hadn’t actually been back to the Forest since the day that Astoria died. That didn’t mean that she hadn’t used the Stone, though. Sometimes when she was having a particularly bad day (which seemed to be most days) she slyly turned the Stone over three times in her pocket and she her day would immediately be improved by the presence of her deceased family. Deep, deep down, Lily knew that this was probably unhealthier than going into the Forest every single night, but it was actually much easier and it was also the easiest way to stop her friends from being so suspicious of her. 

“Honestly, Al, I haven’t,” she said, when he looked at her as though he didn’t quite believe her, “Do you want me to give you the Marauders Map so you can stalk my every move?” 

Alex rolled his eyes at her, “No, I don’t, actually. I have better things to do with my time than watching what you do when you aren’t in class,” 

“Rude,” she sighed, “I have a very exciting life,” 

When they eventually got to the dungeons, most of the class were already there and the only seats left were next to Hugo and The Bloody Idiot. Lily frowned at Hugo when she sat next to because she was sure that he had left the Great Hall with Hannah who was sat at the very front of class with Louis where Lily usually sat. He smiled at her and took his cauldron out of his bag as though willingly sitting next to David Addington-Oakes was a completely normal thing to do. 

“Morning, Class!” Professor Slughorn said as he walked through the door, looking as jovial as ever, “I trust you’ve all done your homework?” 

“Shit,” Alex muttered, “Lily can I copy your homework really quick?” 

She rolled her eyes but slid her essay over to him anyway. Addington-Oakes muttered something underneath his breath and Lily resisted the urge to throw something at him. Instead, she just turned back to the front of the class and tried to pretend like he wasn’t sat across from her. 

“Have any of you considered ever becoming a prefect?” Slughorn asked, flicking his wand at the board so that the instructions for the potion they were going to make today appeared, “Heads of Houses are going to be looking at your progress closely this year,” 

Lily looked away from him as he smiled at her. She had never given that much thought to being a prefect, it always seemed like something that would bring added pressure to her life. Rose, Fred, Teddy, Dominique and Vicky had all been prefects, as had Lydia, Ron, Hermione and Draco had also been prefects back when they were in school. Being a prefect seemed more stressful than not but if she didn’t end up being a prefect, she would just be more of a disappointment than usual. 

“Before we start brewing our Draught of Peace, can anyone tell me what end characteristic shows it has been brewed correctly?” Professor Slughorn asked, “Lily, dear, do you know?”

“It emits a silvery vapour,” Lily replied. 

“Quite correct, take five points for Slytherin,” 

“Teachers pet,” The Bloody Idiot muttered under his breath. 

“Shut up,” Hugo snapped, “at least she hasn’t spilled Syrup of Hellebore down her robes,”

“What?” he hissed, looking down at his robes, “For fucks sake, you put that at the edge of the table on purpose, Weasley!”

“ _ Granger- _ Weasley,” Hugo corrected. 

Lily wasn’t sure if it was the constant bickering between Hugo and The Bloody Idiot or the fact that she was generally fed up of everything that caused her Draught of Peace to become more of a Draught of Nightmares. Despite the fact that she had read the instructions on the board over and over again and she had accidentally brewed this Potion before to great success, her cauldron suddenly melted to a pulp and the Potion slowly spread out across their table and all over the floor, causing them to have to jump onto their chairs.

“Alex, what have you done?” Professor Slughorn asked, walking over to their table. 

“It wasn’t me, Professor!” Alex exclaimed, looking quite offended. 

Professor Slughorn looked at Alex and then down at his cauldron, before his eyes fell on Lily and her destroyed cauldron. He looked shocked, and maybe even slightly disappointed, but then he smiled at her and waved his hand as though she often destroyed her cauldrons. 

“No matter, no matter,” He said, flicking his wand so that her cauldron jumped back into shape and the spilled Potion disappeared, “We can’t get everything right all the time, can we? You’ve never been more like your mother then you are right now, dear,” 

Lily forced a smile and jumped off her chair, her cheeks burning. There were a few giggles and then everyone turned back to their Potions. Lily stared into her empty cauldron as tears burned her eyes. She wasn’t sure that she had ever felt so embarrassed. Hugo and Alex both seemed to have noticed this because they were talking loudly about how Alex’s cauldron was quite violently spitting green sparks at him and seemed unable to stop doing just that. 

“This is ridiculous,” Alex said, ducking behind his stool, “Can someone help, please, someone - I think this Potion is trying to kill me!”

“You just need to add more powdered moonstone,” Lily muttered, scooping up her left over moonstone and dropping it into the cauldron. At once, it stopped spitting green sparks and turned the correct grey colour, “moonstone is what gives the potion it’s calming properties. If you don’t add enough, it won’t be calming, hence why yours just tried to kill you,” 

Lily glanced over at Professor Slughorn in the hopes that he had just seen her fix Alex’s potion and would no longer be disappointed in her, but he was stood on the other side of the room, completely engrossed in someone else's Potion. She sighed and began to clear up her things, shoving her cauldron back into her bag with not much care for it. 

“You’re going to crack your cauldron if you keep on shoving it in like that,” Alex said to her. 

She ignored him and, sure enough, she heard a crack and grimaced slightly, “I’ll fix it later,” 

“You can add Potions to the list of things your useless at, Weasley,” The Bloody Idiot said to her, stirring his annoyingly perfect Potion.

“You can add being a dickhead to the list of things your perfect at,” Alex snapped, “Including being a knobhead and a cu-”

“Alright!” Hugo said loudly, cutting across Alex, “let’s not go there,” 

When the bell rang, Lily was the first to get out of the classroom. Hugo, Hannah, Alex and Louis quickly caught up on her, though none of them really looked like they knew what to say to her. In all the time that they had been at Hogwarts, Lily had never messed up as badly as she just had done in a Potions class. Those kind of disasters were usually reserved for Transfiguration where she was used to disappointed looks of Professor Jowell. She wasn't sure that Jowell had ever actually smiled at her. 

They walked to Herbology in silence. Lily tried to mentally prepare herself for another hour of being trapped in The Bloody Idiots company and it was not going very well for he was walking behind them and muttering about her. Hugo was walking besides her with his hands balled into fists, his ears turning red, and she was suddenly quite worried that he would around and punch him in the face. Though, she wasn’t too sure that that would be the worse thing that could happen to her that day. 

As she could have predicted, Lily’s day did not get much better. In Herbology, she accidentally knocked a whole jar of bubotuber pus onto the floor only to get to Defence Against the Dark Arts and realise that were having a test that she had completely forgotten to revise for. And Charms and Care of Magical Creatures might have gone fine if not for the fact that Lily had completely forgotten how to do Cheering Charms and David Addington - Oakes, who was working with the Kneazle next to the one Lily was working with, was talking quite loudly about how everything he had revised the night before had come up on the Defence Against the Dark Arts test. 

“Will you just shut up, no one gives a shit!” Lily yelled, finally getting sick of him.

“How did you find your test, Weasley?”  he asked, smirking at her. 

“None of your business,” she snapped. 

“I do feel sorry for you, you know,” he said solemnly, “it must be difficult being the dimmest one in your family. I heard Fred’s working with Ollivander now and isn’t Teddy close to getting a new law about Werewolves passed?”

“So what if he is?” Lily asked stiffly. 

He sniggered, “And all you’ve done today is melt a cauldron and fuck up a Defence Against the Dark Art’s test,” 

“Back off,” Hannah snarled, “at least Lily won't be spending her life piggybacking off family money, unlike you,” 

“If she carries on the way she is, I think she might,” he sighed, “ah, well, I guess she can’t be like her mum, can she?”

“You’re a twat, Oakes,” Hugo said, dropping food in front of their Kneazle, “I don’t know why anyone likes you,” 

“Do you not?” he asked lightly. 

Hugo turned bright red and turned away from him, hurriedly asking Hagrid a question. After what felt like hours, the bell rang and Lily hurried away from him. She had never wanted to disappear into the common room and not come out for the rest of time so much in her life. When Hannah sadly informed her that they had Transfiguration, Lily actually had to fight to not burst into tears on the spot. Having Transfiguration last thing on a Friday was nothing short of painful.

“It’ll be over before you know it,” Hannah assured her. 

“So would death,” Lily muttered, but not so Hannah could hear her. 

Unsurprisingly, the lesson went terribly. No matter how hard she tried, her Guinea Fowl remained quite stubbornly a Guinea Fowl and would not turn into a Guinea Pig. It just kept on squawking at her as though it too was disappointed in her lack of Transfiguration skills. The fact that Jowell kept on walking near her desk and glaring at her was not at all helping her nerves. It just made her want to transfigure  _ him  _ into a Guinea Pig, even though she was more than aware of the fact that she did not have the skill to do that. She could barely turn a matchstick into a needle. 

“Your thinking about it too much,” Hugo said to her quietly. 

“That's easy for you to say, you’ve transfigured it!”

“I’m just trying to help,” 

“Well, you're not,” 

“Right, whatever,” he said, turning to Louis who was sat on his other side. 

The lesson wore on and nothing was going in Lily’s favour. When she saw Hannah successfully transfigure her Guinea Fowl into a Guinea Pig, Lily knew that she would not have a peaceful ending to her week. 

“Miss Weasley!” Jowell yelled, “You still remain the only person in class who has not achieved your transfiguration!”

“It’s not my fault!” Lily exclaimed, “I can’t-”

“Don’t use that tone with me!” He snapped as the class fell silence to listen more closely, “if you paid more attention to what I was saying and was more like your mother-”

“If I was more like my mother, I would be fighting a dragon at some point this year and that actually sounds like a much better way to spend my time!At least the dragon wouldn’t try and give me detention! It would just try and kill me!”

“I love her,” Hannah said, fighting back laughter. 

“I don’t right now,” Hugo muttered, stepping on her foot under the desk and hissing, “shut up!”

“Ten points off Slytherin!” Jowell exclaimed. 

Lily then made the mistake of rolling her eyes before Jowell had actually looked away from her. 

“I do not know what's gotten into you, Miss Weasley, but you are really in no position to be arguing with me right now! Your marks are beyond dismal and if you don’t pull yourself together, then you’re going to fail and-”

“-and be a disappointment to everyone around me? I am quite sure that I’ll get over it, I do every other day,” Lily snapped. 

“Oh, Merlin,” Hannah muttered, “Lily, maybe you should just-”

L“If you don’t wish to be in this class, then you know where the door is,”

“Fine!” Lily exclaimed, jumping up so quickly that she knocked her chair over, “You’re right, I don’t want to be here!”

Feeling as though she wasn’t actually controlling her own legs, Lily snatched her bag off the floor, shoved her things into it and stormed out of the classroom, making a point of slamming the door shut behind her. Her heart was beating out of control and she was quite sure that she was close to collapsing, but she didn't stop walking until she found a broom cupboard and locked herself inside it. 

Without thinking about what she was doing, Lily reached into her pocket and took out the Stone, turning it over in her hands. 

“This isn't the Forest,” Fred said, by way of greeting. 

“What's wrong with you?” Sirius asked. 

“I think I just did something really stupid,” Lily gasped, “I stormed out of Transfiguration after telling Jowell that I would rather fight a dragon than sit through his class,”

There was a few minutes of silence and then they all burst into laughter. Lily closed her eyes and allowed herself to laugh, too. It wasn’t as though she was the only person to ever storm out of class. She was quite sure that even Aunt Hermione had done it once when she was at school.

“We’ve all been there,” Lily Potter assured her, “I once stormed out of a Defence Against the Dark Arts class because the Professor seemed perfectly happy to let the Slytherins talk about how much they hated Muggleborns,” 

“I used to leave class just because I felt like it,” Fred shrugged, “sometimes the best thing to do is to just leave,” 

Once she got back to the Common Room (echoes following her), she didn’t feel so bad. Storming out of class would probably get her into a lot of trouble and she had probably just lessened her chances of becoming a Slytherin prefect, but she had never really thought that she would actually get prefect. Besides, her mother had once stormed out of a Defence Against the Dark Arts class and the fact that she had done the same thing filled Lily with a strange sort of pride. 

The door of the common room opened and Hugo, Hannah, Alex and Louis poured in. Lily smiled at them, but her smile faltered when none of them, even Hannah, smiled back. 

“You’re in so much trouble,” Alex said. 

“Story of my life,” Sirius sighed. 

“Professor McGonagall wants to see you,” Hugo said, “and she didn't look particularly happy about it,” 

“Story of my life,” Fred said. 

“Right,” Lily said, feigning calmness, “I’ll go now,” 

“Your mum and dad are there as well,” Louis added, “I heard McGonagall talking about it with Uncle Harry,” 

“What's the password?”

“Albus,” Hannah said quickly.

“I’ll see you later,” Lily said, hurrying out of the common room. 

“This isn’t something you need to panic about,” Sirius said, “ _ My  _ parents were called into school once and my parents were awful, yours aren't,” 

“Yeah, I got called into school once because of Harry and Lydia, so it’d be a bit hypocritical for your mum to get angry at you,” James told her, “even the Minister for Magic was there,” 

“And you actually like the Minister for Magic so even if she is there, it’s not nearly as scary as it would have been for Harry and Lydia,” Remus added. 

Lily wasn't really listening to what they had to say. Not being worried about being put in detention for the rest of the year was much easier when you were dead and no longer had to worry about it. Still, Lily thought to herself, her dad and Uncle Fred were in detention all the time and they still did well for themselves. And if it hadn’t been for the war, James, Sirius and Remus would have still done well despite all the trouble they got into in school. 

So lost in her rambling thoughts, she barely took notice of what she was doing when she said the password and didn’t even realise she was knocking on the door of McGonagall’s office until she heard the instruction to come inside. 

Inside, Lydia and George were sat in front of Professor McGonagall's desk whilst Professor Jowell stood behind McGonagall’s chair, his arms folded. Lydia smiled at Lily when she walked in and George winked at her. Immediately, Lily felt herself calm down. The echoes stuck close to her, as though they were forming a shield between her and Jowell. 

“Take a seat Miss Weasley,” McGonagall said quietly, indicating the the chair besides George. When she sat down, McGonagall cleared her throat and turned around to look at Professor Jowell, “Would you care to explain what happened?”

“Certainly,” Jowell said, using a voice that made Lily want to punch him more than usual, “In class today, we were going over the simple transfiguration of a Guinea Fowl into a Guinea Pig-”

“Sorry,” George interrupted, “since when was that a simple transfiguration?”

“It's simple transfiguration for fourth years, Mr Weasley,” Jowell said, though Lily was sure that she saw McGonagall shake her head slightly, “and your daughter remains the only student in her class who could not carry out this transfiguration,”

“What a dickhead,” James muttered, “Minnie should hex him,” 

“She should Transfigure  _ him  _ into a Guinea Pig,” Sirius said, “like that time Moony turned Frank into a-”

“Shush!” Lily Potter hissed. 

Lily shifted uncomfortably in her seat and tried not to laugh.  She wasn't sure how she felt about Jowell openly talking about how bad she was at Transfiguration in front of Professor McGonagall. 

“When I asked Lily why she didn't finish her work like the rest of her class, she got very angry and, dare I say, disrespectful,” Jowell said. 

“Lily? Disrespectful?” Lydia asked incredulously, “Sorry, I know I’m her mum and biased but...come on, Professor! You’ve taught her long enough to know that she's far from disrespectful!”

“Oh, look, Lils, she's as overprotective as you,” James said cheerily. 

“I agree that this is out of character for your daughter, Mrs Weasley, but I don't think that makes it any less serious,” Jowell replied smoothly, “she did then tell me that she would rather be fighting a dragon than be in my class,” 

Lydia snorted loudly which earned her an angry look off Jowell. 

“Do you find that funny, Mrs Weasley?”

“Look, she probably shouldn't have said it to your face but every teenager has said stuff in school that they shouldn't have! You probably did! I’ve said worse to various teachers,” Lydia shrugged. 

“That's true,” Fred said, finally tearing his eyes away from George, “I used to look forward to hearing about what she'd said to Umbridge,”

“The apple doesn't fall far from the tree then, does it?”

Lydia immediately sat up straighter in her chair and opened her mouth angrily but George put his hand on her arm, “Don’t start an argument, love,” 

“I only said it because he told me I needed to me more like my mum!” Lily exclaimed. 

The atmosphere in the room immediately changed after this. Even Professor McGonagall turned around in her chair to glare at Jowell who suddenly looked like a deer in headlights. Remus sighed and then tutted. 

“Some people shouldn't be teachers,” 

“Ah,” George said, “You kept that quiet,” 

“Yeah, if you’d have mentioned that I would have laughed much more loudly,” Lydia said, “I think the fact that my daughter would rather fight a dragon than sit in on one of your classes says a lot about who you are as a teacher,” 

“Who wants to bet that she's going to hex him?” Sirius asked excitedly, “I hope she hexes him. I would,” 

“All I was saying was that you were known for being good at Transfiguration and-” Jowell began but Professor McGonagall cut across him. 

“I don't think Lydia would be upset if I pointed out that by this point in her Hogwarts career, she wasn't my best student. It was only when she began her fifth year that I discovered how good she actually was,”

“Yeah,” Sirius said quietly, “I don't think she'd ever opened her Transfiguration book before fifth year,” 

“However,” McGonagall said, “this still does not excuse the fact that Miss Weasley stormed out of lesson before it had ended, so she will not be free of punishment. I shall leave that up to Professor Jowell,” 

“If I was in Professor Jowells class, George and I would have driven him out of school by now,” Fred said, “kids these days need to up their game...” 

“Is that everything?”  George asked. 

Professor McGonagall nodded, “Yes, that will be all. Miss Weasley if you would see Professor Jowell on Monday morning to discuss your detention, that would be perfect. And I should like to speak to you, Professor,” she added to Professor Jowell who looked rather like he would like to kill someone. 

Lily wasted no time in following her parents out of the office. She felt as though if she saw Professor Jowell in ten years it would be too soon. They walked in silence until they reached the Entrance Hall. Lily glanced into the Great Hall and saw that it was still packed for dinner but she didn't feel angry. 

“Lyds!” Harry exclaimed, walking out of the Great Hall, “What are you doing- oh, is this about Professor Jowell?”

“You know?” Lydia asked.

“Hugo mentioned something before,” he said, “but I couldn't really understand what he was saying because Hannah was laughing so much. And then McGonagall told me about it. Is it true you said that you'd rather fight a dragon than be in his class, Lily? Because as your Professor, that's terrible, but as your uncle that is the best thing I've ever heard,” 

“We shouldn't encourage you to treat your Professors like that, though,” Lydia said quickly, “but I'm not really in a position to be telling you any of this because that would make me the biggest hypocrite going,” 

“You’re always going to have to deal with people you don't like, you just need to learn to keep your mouth shut,” George told her, “something that your mother never learned to do,”

“But Hogwarts isn't forever,” Harry said, “one day you won't have to worry about Professor Jowell,”

“Hogwarts is forever for you,” Lily pointed out, “You’re still here,” 

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,” Harry sighed.

“I'm assuming he's being sarcastic saying that,” James said.

“Is there anything else you need to tell us, Lily?” Lydia asked, suddenly serious.

Lily looked over her mother's shoulder and looked into the face of her smiling grandmother. She opened her mouth but then quickly closed it and shook her head.

“No. Everything is fine,”    
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know why this chapter took so long to write but thank-you for reading!! 
> 
> -E.


	15. Ketchup and Catch Up

“And here's the best part, she told Jowell that she’d rather fight a dragon than be in Transfiguration!”

Dominique burst into laughter at Hannah's retelling of what she was now calling, ‘the best day of her life,”. As with most pieces of gossip at Hogwarts, the story of Lily’s outburst in Transfiguration and everyone seemed to find it hilarious. Everyone but Lily, that was. She hated being the centre of attention and the fact that people were spewing the dragon quote as though it was a quote from Shakespeare himself, Jowell’s feelings towards Lily had not changed. The only good thing was that he was now leaving her alone in Transfiguration and she felt as though her work was improving because of it.

Her mother also seemed to have gone into overdrive because she now wrote to Lily at least four times a week and it was not uncommon for Harry to stop her in the corridor or after to class to tell her that her mum wanted to speak to her through the mirror. Lily was starting to think that no matter what she said, Lydia would panic about her and somehow manage to convince herself that Lily was completely unhappy in school and it would probably be best for her to be pulled out of school.

Lily wasn’t even sure how she was feeling. There were days where she would be fine all morning but then her mood would change as though someone had cast some sort of spell on her and there were days when she would be in an awful mood from the moment that she woke up, but there were also days when she woke up in a good mood. Admittedly, those days were few and far between but that wasn’t something that she wanted to focus on. There wasn’t much that she felt like focusing on.

“Han, you’ve told this story one million times now,” Lily said, as they sat in the courtyard during their morning break.

“I know, but it's just so good!” Hannah said happily, “It really was the best day of my life and you didn’t even get into that much trouble!”

“She's gone mad, hasn't she?”

Lily looked up to see David Addington-Oakes and his usual gang of idiots walking over to them, grinning. Hugo rolled his eyes and pulled out a book, burying his nose in it.

“Go away,” Alex snapped, “no one wants to talk to you,”

“I’m just saying what we’re all thinking,” David sighed, “didn’t her mum go mad at some point in school and blow someone up?”

“I think you’ll find that she was fighting a death eater, so get lost,” Dominique said through gritted teeth.

“It runs in the family,” David shrugged, “You’re all mad,”

“I said get lost,” Dominique snapped, “carry on and I’ll take points,”

He rolled his eyes but walked eye. The moment he was gone, Hugo snapped his book shut and dropped it back into his bag, mumbling under his breath. Lily could not care less what he was going on about and zoned out for a while, watching Harry talking to a student on the other side of the courtyard and thinking about how easy it would be to just walk over to him and tell him what was going on in her brain. Surely, he would understand. He would probably even be expecting it, but there was still something holding her back - and she had a feeling that it had something to do with the stone in her pocket.

As far as Alex and Hannah were aware, she had stopped using the Stone. They had no reason to believe that she was because she no longer walked all the way to the forest to use it. Comfortable in the knowledge that no one but here could see the echoes, Lily was perfectly happy to use it whenever she pleased. She was also quite sure that there was nothing quite as amusing as their commentary throughout the day. That alone was enough to not make her want to disappear into her room and never come out again. This feeling did not stop the guilt that she felt, but she just chose to lock that guilt away deep in her brain and not focus on it.

The bell rang and Lily stood up, picking her bag off the floor and trying to mentally prepare herself for an hour of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Harry had also taken it upon himself to make sure that Lily was okay and trying to convince her uncle that she was okay was rather exhausting. Everything seemed to be exhausting. The fact that Lily had taken to sitting at the desk in the back corner of the classroom and tried to stay as out of sight as possible probably did not make Harry think that she was mentally stable, but it was better than being the centre of attention.

“Do we have to sit so close to the back?” Hannah asked, “I’m never entirely sure what's going on when we’re so far away from him,”

“You wouldn’t know what was going on if he was stood right in front of him,” Alex said, sitting in the desk in front of theirs.

“Yeah, that's true,” Hannah said, “if it weren't for the fact that he was Lily’s uncle, I probably wouldn’t listen to him that much. The whole ‘Boy who Lived’ thing got boring after a month,”

“Try growing up with it,” Hugo sighed, taking his seat next to Alex.

Harry cleared his throat at the front of class and everyone immediately stopped speaking. Lily stifled a yawn and tried her best to look as alert as possible whilst Harry began to tell the story of how he learned how to stun someone and how it was extremely painful and that he would do his best to make sure that no one broke any bones. Immediately, Hugo’s hand was in the air.

“Yes, Hugo?” Harry asked, somewhat resignedly.

“I don’t understand why people make a big deal about duelling because couldn't you just use one spell and finish them off? Like, if I stun you, you’re done because you can’t move,”

“I feel like we’ve had this conversation one million times, Hugo,” Harry said, “If you lot were to duel now - which I don't recommend - it would probably be over very quickly, however, in a real duel it's not that simple because you're duelling to win, sometimes even to kill,” he paused and looked around the room, “not as though any of you will ever be duelling to kill,”

“What if we become Aurors?” Hugo asked.

“When you're an Auror, you’re trained to duel to disarm, not kill,” Harry told him, “but, it's really not something you’ll ever have to worry about because you don't want to be an Auror, do you?”

“Merlin, no,”

“Great!” Harry said brightly, clapping his hands together, “So, as I was saying, I learned to stun with my sister who - yes, David?”

Lily rolled her eyes at Hannah as The Bloody Idiot stuck his hand in the air. She could already tell that his question wasn’t going to be as innocent as Hugo's.

“Have you ever duelled to kill?”

“Here we go...” Lily muttered.

“I didn't duel Lord Voldemort thinking that we were both going to come out the end,” Harry said, “I was looking to hit him with a tickling hex, if that's what you were asking,”

“But you’ve never used the Killing Curse, have you?” David asked.

“No, I haven't,” Harry said, “I’ve never stooped that low. Anyway, back to stunning...I learned to stun with my sister who was probably much better at it than me because I’m not nearly as scary as her...”

Lily tuned out after this. She already knew what story Harry was going to tell and she had heard it one million times before. Lydia took great pride in telling the story of how she managed to stun Harry four times in a row despite the fact that Harry was almost much better at Defence Against the Dark Arts than Lydia was.

“I _let_ her stun me though,” Harry assured the class, “she’d had a hard day because she’d melted her third cauldron of the week in Potions,”

Somehow, Lily managed to get through the hour without being stunned. She wasn't quite sure how she pulled it off, but she was very glad that she did after seeing Alex pull himself off the floor for the fourth time and limping over to his seat, announcing that he would rather die than ever have to be stunned again in his life. Hannah took it upon herself to try and stun Hugo every time he asked stupid questions, and Lily had the sneaking suspicion that she would continue to do this for the next month at least.

Just as the bell rang and Lily went to hurry out of the classroom, Harry called her over to his desk. Not even trying to hide her annoyance, she dragged herself to the front of class where Harry was waiting for her.

“I’m going to be late for Potions,”

“Yes, and Professor Slughorn will put you in detention for the rest of your life because you’re his worst student,”

“You're being annoying,”

“I’m just fulfilling my duty as uncle,” he said, “Now, are you OK?”

“Yes,”

Harry narrowed his eyes at her, “Are you sure? You seem a bit...distant? You didn’t really do anything all lesson,”

“I stunned Alex!”

“Once,”

“I’m just tired. Ancient Runes is a really difficult subject,”

“If you’re struggling so much you could drop it,” Harry told her, “there's no point in making yourself so unhappy. You're too young to be unhappy,”

“No,” Lily said quickly, “No, I’m fine. I'm not unhappy. I'm just stressed.”

He nodded, but Lily could tell that he didn't believe a thing that she was saying.

“Well, if you ever need to talk to me, you know where I am,”

“Going on with yourself in your classroom?”

“Get lost,” he said.

The next morning, her day got off to a bad start when Teddy’s owl, Moony, dropped a letter onto her breakfast and sprayed her with ketchup. Everyone but Lily found this hilarious and despite covering her in ketchup, Moony still looked at her as though he was expecting her to give her some food.

“You're the worst owl in the world, you know that?”

He hooted at her and snatched one of her sausages. Hannah snorted at her.

“Your life is tragic,”

“Tell me about it...” Lily muttered, opening the letter and recognising Teddy’s terrible.

_“Hiiiiii, Lilyyyyyyyyyy,_

_Me and Fred aren't doing anything this Saturday and you’re probably not doing anything this Saturday so you should come and meet us in Hogsmeade. It's also Halloween so, as a Weasley-Potter, you’re kind of obliged to come and see us._

_Mum says hi, dad also needs glasses know but he's refusing to wear them because they make him look old. Mum then asked if that means that she looks old and dad did that thing where he starts digging a very deep hole that he has no hope of ever getting out. So really, nothing has changed._

_Write back ASAP though, because I need to know if I need to leave the house or not._

_Love,_  
Teddy.   
(Your favourite brother),”

“How do you read his writing?” Alex asked, looking over her shoulder, “the only word I can understand there is, “as”’

“It's a struggle,” Lily said, “but after fifteen years you kind of get used to it,”

She flipped the letter over and began to write her reply, telling Teddy that she would go and meet him and Fred in Hogsmeade. It was much easier to be out of the castle on Halloween, if not for the fact that it meant that she wouldn't have to see Harry walking around and looking so sad.

“Oi, Moony!” Lily yelled, “Come back!”

He was perched on Louis’ shoulder and looked as though he would very much like to stay there for the rest of the day.

“Louis, give me the owl back!” Lily exclaimed, “I need to send a letter,”

Moony flew back over to her and stuck his leg out, allowing her to tie the letter onto his leg.

“Don’t drop this letter onto Teddy’s breakfast,” Lily told him, “or do, it’d be amusing,”

“You still have ketchup all over you,” Hannah said, “Scourgify,”

“Does anyone want to Scourgify me off the planet?” Alex asked.

“That's not how that spell works,” Hugo said.

“It was a joke, Hugo,”

“Well, it's a shit one,”

\---

“You’re late,” Fred said, by way of a greeting.

“Missed you too, Freddie,” Lily said, sitting in the seat next to Teddy.

He rolled his eyes, “I’m just saying, you’re really late,”

“You are really late,” Teddy told her, “do you think this pink hair suits me?”

Lily looked over at him and shrugged, “Yeah,”

“I don’t think it does,” he said, turning it back to his usual blue.

“Sometimes I think you like to change your hair colour to show off,” Fred said.

“I think you’re just jealous, dickhead,”

Teddy and Fred then wasted no time in catching Lily up with everything that she had missed whilst she was at Hogwarts; Fred did not actually hate his job, despite the fact that Aunt Muriel had been convinced that he would and was, according to Mr Ollivander, well on the way to being able to start selling people's wand, he just need to learn the theory of wandlore more. Lydia had been offered a job as the coach of the Holyhead Harpies but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to take it because she, Teddy and everyone else who worked at the Werewolf Charity were actually closer than ever to passing a law that would make it completely illegal to not pay Werewolves the same wage as others.

“Did you know that the Werewolf pay gap was a thing? Because I didn't!” Teddy exclaimed, “and I bet half of the people in this pub didn't know, either,”

They were also very close to setting up a refuge for Werewolves who had been kicked out onto the street by their families, and Lydia liked the thought of working there more than she did coaching Quidditch teams.

“She still loves Quidditch, obviously, but I think she's just over it,” Fred told her, “she did always say she never liked the early practices,”

“Daphne also wants a new job so they could start at that refuge together,” Teddy said, “I might work there, as well, but I’m not too sure yet...”

“Rosie is killing it at work,” Fred said, “and also killing herself at work. Apparently she got home later than Aunt Hermione the other week, which is saying something. And Ruby has her first match coming up soon, so prepare yourself for a very long letter about how amazing it was at some point,”

“And dad is refusing to wear his glasses,” Teddy sniggered, “mum keeps on trying to get him to wear them, but it's not going very well,”

“He does look a lot like Uncle Percy when he wears them,” Fred said thoughtfully, “he doesn't look old though,”

“Honestly, I just like to bring them up to start an argument,” Teddy said. He turned to Lily and grinned, “so what have you been getting up too, apart from storming out of Transfiguration?”

Lily looked away from him, “Did mum and dad tell you?”

Fried nodded, “storming out of class doesn't help anyone,”

“Yes, I’m aware of that, Fred,” Lily said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, “but you know how much of a dickhead Jowell is, especially to me!”

“I know,” he said gently, “I’m just saying that you probably didn't help matters,”

“There's nothing that could help me,” Lily said bluntly, “I'm just going to fail Transfiguration but I’m okay with that,”

“Have you ever - have you ever thought about being a little bit more like mum?” Fred suggested, somewhat hesitantly.

Teddy immediately looked up at the ceiling and Lily froze in the act of raising her bottle of Butterbeer to her lips, not quite believing what she was hearing.

“Seriously?”

“No, I mean...I just mean in Transfiguration! You know, try harder so that he lays off you a bit!” Fred said quickly.

“So I should just pretend to be someone else so that people like me? I’m pretty sure that that's the opposite of what you're meant to be telling me,” Lily snapped, “what happened to ‘be yourself!’?”

Fred sighed, “Look, I know it's shitty and you hate him, but even you can't deny that you don't try as hard as you should do,”

“I actually try very hard!” Lily exclaimed, “I put so much work in and it's still not enough!”

“Look, Lily, I think what Fred was trying to say was-”

“You don't have to get involved,” Lily snapped at Teddy, “why do you always feel the need to get involved in everything?”

Teddy jerked away from her, looking affronted.

“I don’t know what's gotten into you but-”

“Piss off, Teddy,” Lily said, “I'm going back to school. See you later,”

Before either of them could call her back, Lily snatched her coat off the back of her chair and stormed out of The Three Broomsticks, very aware that David Addington-Oakes was laughing at her. Furious at everyone and everything, Lily shoved her hands into the pocket of her coat and bowed her head against the wind, intent on getting back to the castle as quickly as possible so that she could use the Stone. She wanted to talk to her family openly and felt as though she could not do that in the middle of Hogsmeade.

“Excuse me, miss, can I ask you a question?”

Lily looked up from the ground to see a dark robed Wizard stood a little way away from her. He had a kind face and looked as though he was quite lost.

“What's up?” Lily asked.

“The Hog's Head Inn, where is it? I'm meant to be meeting a friend,”

“Oh,” Lily said, “Yeah, it's on the other side of Hogsmeade. If you keep on walking you’ll find it,”

He smiled at her and went to move on but then turned back around to her, “Sorry, but...you look an awful lot like Lydia Potter,”

Lily forced herself to keep on smiling, “Yeah, she's my mum,”

The man raised his eyebrows at her and laughed, “That does make a lot more sense. I thought you were her at first but then I saw there was no-”

“Scar?”

“Yeah,”

She nodded, “I get it a lot,”

“Must be hard,” he continued, “forever getting compared to her,” his eyes flickered towards the Slytherin scarf around her neck and then back up at her face, “you’re in Slytherin and everything...”

“It's not my favourite thing in the world,” Lily admitted, “but it's a bit hard to avoid,”

“Guess it makes you want to do something completely different from her, doesn't it? Or maybe even the complete opposite?”

Lily laughed, “I think the complete opposite would be being a death eater, and I'm not looking for that,”

The man smiled at her, “Of course not. I’ll see you around,”

Lily watched him walk away for a moment and when she was sure that he wasn't going to turn around again, she turned on her heel and hurried up the path to Hogwarts and didn't stop until she was safe back in her dormitory. She wasn't sure if she was being dramatic, but there was something off about that man. Although, her dad did always say only weirdos were regulars in the Hog’s Head, so maybe she was overthinking everything. It wouldn't be the first time.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! 
> 
> I'm going to be honest, I thought I hit a dead end with this fic after the last update but then I got a random burst of inspiration halfway through class today, so whilst that isn't great for my education, it's great for this! 
> 
> (Also, I realise that this is literally the worst chapter title in the history of chapter titles, but it made me giggle when I thought about it and then couldn't bring myself to call it anything else.)
> 
> -E.


	16. Rashes and Quidditch

Lily worried about the strange man in Hogsmeade for all of 30 minutes until she saw a seventh year carving a pumpkin with his boyfriend and she remembered that she was meant to be with her family. At once, she leapt up from her seat and hurried up to Harry’s office, trying to think of a good enough excuse for being late that wasn't “there was a creepy man in Hogsmeade and I couldn't stop thinking about him,” because that would be enough to send her mother insane for the next three years. Of course, she could mention the argument with Fred and Teddy, but that would probably send the entire family insane for the next three years and she wasn't in the business to be doing that.

So, when she eventually made it to Harry's office to find Draco, Lydia, George, Ron and Hermione already there with James (who was sporting a black eye) and Rose who was giggling about James’ black eye with Ruby and Hugo, she just muttered something about how she had fallen asleep in the common room.

“Where's Fred and Teddy?” Lily asked, glancing around the office and realising they weren't there. She was secretly thankful about it, though. It meant that none of them had to try and pretend that they hadn't had a massive argument.

“Teddy got called into work and Fred doesn't feel well,” George said. He was wearing his glasses and looked quite pissed off about it. Lily opened her mouth to say something about his glasses but then closed it again, feeling as though Ron or James would take much more pleasure in eventually making fun of him.

“How was Hogsmeade, Hugo?” Hermione asked, “you did go today, didn't you?”

“Yeah,” Hugo said, “Yeah, no, it was fine,”

“Who'd you go with?” Lily asked, frowning, “I thought Hannah wasn't going today,”

Hugo’s cheeked flushed red and, unfortunately for him, James was the first person to notice this. He gasped, “Do you have a girlfriend, Hugo?”

“No!”

“Then why are you red?” James asked, “is it because you have a girlfriend?”

“No, I went with some of the other lads from Ravenclaw,” Hugo said, “I don’t know why you're making a big deal out of it!”

“Because ‘ _some of the other lads from Ravenclaw_ ’ is code for-”

“Shut up, James,” Ruby sighed, “or I’ll give you another black eye,”

“Dad! Ruby is threatening me with violence!”

Harry and Draco turned to look at each other at the exact same time and, in perfect synchronisation said, “He means you,”. Whilst they began bickering and everyone else became too amused to pay attention to anything but the two of them, Lily slowly reached into her pocket and turned the Stone over three time in her hands. The office was flooded with light as the echoes materialised around them.

“Merlin, is George wearing _glasses_?” Fred asked, “he looks ridiculous. Lily, tell him he looks ridiculous,”

“Oh, it's Halloween...” Lily Evans said softly, looking over at the calendar that hung besides Harry's desk.

“Feel like I shouldn't have opened with a joke, now,” Fred muttered, folding his arms.

“He does look ridiculous, though” Sirius said

It was, as always, a somber evening though it was made slightly better by the presence of the echoes, though no one but Lily was aware of them. They spoke, as they always did, very briefly of previous Halloweens and how Lydia and Harry never even enjoyed Halloween before they knew it was the anniversary of their parents death, though that could have been more to do with the Dursleys than anything else. Lily and James Potter watched their children intently as they spoke, and Lily couldn't help but wonder if they found it weird that their children were almost twenty years older than them.

“Remember when dad came back?” Harry asked suddenly, “when we were at Grimmauld Place?”

“Yeah, that was when I got really confused because I thought you were both stood next to me _and_ in front of me,” Lydia laughed.

“That was the first time I properly realised how much we looked like each other,” Harry said.

“The first time I saw him, I called him Harry and then he said, “No, I’m his dad,” which was really confusing because he was meant to be dead,” Uncle Ron said, frowning.

Aunt Hermione rolled her eyes, “Yes, and as tactful as ever, Ronald then said, to his face, “aren't you meant to be dead?’”

“I was fifteen!” Ron exclaimed, “Sorry for not having the perfectly refined social skills of the Minister for Magic,”

“You still don't as an adult,” George pointed out, “and I think we’re forgetting the worst part of James coming back was the fact that he gave me the _talk_ ,”

“He gave you the what?” Rose asked.

“Can I be honest and say that this was the best moment of my life,” James laughed, “well, not the best moment. Obviously the wedding day is high up on that list...” he added hastily when he saw the glare that his wife was giving him.

“It's the talk I'm going to give to Lily's boyfriend one day,” George said, “I was minding my business, eating my dinner and then James sat next to me and asked me what my intentions were with Lydia,”

Lydia began to laugh, “it was the only time in my life that I've ever seen him at a loss for words,”

“What did you say?” Draco asked.

“Nothing. I just stared at him whilst he carried on talking about how he was an expert at transfiguring people into things until Remus swooped in and saved the day,”

“Until Remus swooped in and ruined the joke, more like,” James muttered.

“Shut up,” Remus said.

“Sirius did always say that mum was more protective than dad, though,” Harry said, “which is quite something, when you think about it. Guess we’ll never know, though,”

Lily looked at the floor after he said this, thinking that there was a very easy way to find out how overprotective Lily Evans really was. She chanced a glance over at Rose, Ruby and Hugo, all of whom seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Lily held onto the Stone even tighter in her pocket and willed someone to speak again and change the subject.

“She stood the same way as Harry stands,” Lydia said.

“What?” Uncle Ron asked.

“When I saw her, I mean, after...you know, what happened,” Lydia said, “she was stood the same was as Harry stands when he's talking to someone - one leg crossed over the other. It's actually a really weird habit,”

“What was she like?” Aunt Hermione asked quietly.

“She was beautiful,” Lydia said, “and...I don't know, funny? She said...she said I had to come back because Potter men can't do anything on their own,”

“That's true,” Draco sighed.

“I can't believe it, my own mother and my husband teaming up against me...” Harry muttered.

Lily looked up from the floor and over at Lily Evans who was stood behind her daughter, tears streaming down her face. There were tears in Aunt Hermione’s eyes too, and Lily suddenly realised how painful wit she was doing really was. The Stone would not just affect her mother, but her entire family. Aunt Hermione would have mourned the deaths of Uncle Fred, James, Sirius and Remus as much as the others, as would have the other Weasleys. The Stone stretched much further than Lily could ever begin to imagine and she felt herself begin to panic, wondering if she was in too deep at this point.

“You alright, Lils?” George asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “Fine, fine,” she cleared her throat and then looked up at him, “Your glasses look ridiculous,”

“Someone finally said it!” Uncle Fred exclaimed, “Merlin's beard,”

“I was hoping we’d get through the evening without someone mentioning them,”

“Uncle George, can I ask you a question?” James asked.

“No,”

“How come they aren't lopsided? You only have one ear,” James continued, completely ignoring him.

“I hadn't even thought about that...” Ron said, turning to his brother, “how come they're on straight?,”

“It's a charm,” George groaned, “and it's a really boring conversation so let's go back to whatever we were talking about,”

“It's a lot better than talking about my dead mother,” Lydia said.

“Don't guilt trip me,”

“Whatever, speccy,”

“You’re wearing glasses as well!”

\---

The worst thing about both of her best friends being on the Quidditch team meant that her weekends could occasionally be lonely or consist of her sitting in the stands and watching them zoom around in the sky. And since Lily would rather sit in the cold and watch them practice rather than have to sit in the library and do work, she and Louis sat in the stands wrapped up in their cloaks and scarves.

“Practice isn't nearly as fun as the actual game, is it?” Louis sighed.

“I still don't find the actual game that fun,” Lily said, “I mean, you can barely see what's going on,”

“There's four professional Quidditch players in our family, and one of them is your mum,” Louis said, “how can you not find it fun?”

“Fred's my brother but I don't find wandlore particularly fun,”

“Yeah but Quidditch is different. It's fun!” Louis sighed. When he realised that probably wouldn't get through to her, he changed his tune, “Have you seen Hugo?”

“No, actually,’ Lily said, “I've barely seen him all weekend, I only saw him in Uncle Harry’s office yesterday. I thought you went to Hogsmeade with him?”

“No,” Louis said, “I was with Paul,”

“Who?”

“Paul the Porlock,” Louis said, “he's ill. Well, I did actually go into Hogsmeade at one point to get some medicine for him, but I was only there for like twenty minutes,”

“Oh,” Lily said, quickly moving the conversation away from Paul the Porlock, “he just said that he went to Hogsmeade with some Ravenclaw lads and I just assumed that you were apart of that,”

Louis shook his head, “I don't know. As far as I was aware, only Addington-Oakes said he was going to Hogsmeade with some dickhead mate of his, but I try not to pay much attention to him,”

Lily frowned and stared up at the players circling overhead, finding it quite strange that Hugo had suddenly become so secretive. Though her curiosity was soon cut short when Louis started to tell her about something that had happened in Hogsmeade.

“This weirdo came up to me and asked me if I was Weasley,” he said, “and I thought that was weird because I'm not actually ginger, which is usually a dead give away. I told him that I was and he said, “must be a fun family to be apart of,’. Which is, just not around Christmas time when suddenly the entire family piles into one house that isn't big enough to-”

“Wait, no, I think the same guy came up to me!” Lily exclaimed, “he asked if I was Lydia Potter’s daughter!”

Louis looked worried for a moment and then shrugged, “probably one of those people that are obsessed with famous people. You know the ones that Uncle Harry always complains about?”

“Yeah, probably,” Lily said, “I just think that - oh, shit, Alex just fell off his broom...”

“Oh, shit,” Louis said, jumping up, “that's not great for anyone,”

They hurried down onto the pitch and over to where Alex was lay groaning on the ground. His broomstick had rolled away from him and his left arm and right leg were sticking out an odd angle. One of the other team members were hurrying back up to the castle whilst Hannah had dropped to her knees next to his head, asking if he was OK.

“No, Hannah, I'm not OK. I’ve just fell off my fucking broomstick,” he groaned.

Hannah pursed her lips, “Stop being a dick. I was just being nice,”

“Move out the way!” came Uncle Harry’s panicked voice, followed by Professor Slughorn and Madam Pomfrey, “Oh, Merlin...I can see bone,”

“Unhelpful,” Alex gasped, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Sorry, Alex, mate,” Harry said gently, waving his wand and conjuring a stretcher out of thin air, “Okay, this is probably going to hurt ever so slightly,”

Lily groaned and looked away as Madam Pomfrey moving Alex from the floor to the stretcher. The way his limbs hung limply in the air made Lily want to vomit, but she didn't think that Alex would appreciate that. The fact that Harry looked as though he was moments away from throwing up everywhere as well made her feel slightly better. It did make her wonder how he ever managed to get by as an Auror, because she would imagine that he would have come across much worse.

“I imagine that you three will want to see him, won't you?” Madam Pomfrey asked, turning to Lily, Hannah and Louis.

“Yes,” Hannah said quickly.

“Give it two hours and then you can come and see him,” she said, “and he will be fine,” she added when she saw the looks on their faces, “I’ve dealt with worse,”

“He will be fine,” Harry assured them as Madam Pomfrey walked back up to the castle with Professor Slughorn guiding the stretcher, “I lost all the bones in my arm after a Quidditch match and Madam Pomfrey regret them in one night. I think Uncle Ron has a picture of that somewhere, actually,”

The next three hours passed slowly, and most of that time was spent sat outside the Hospital Wing. It was incredibly boring and they had very little to do apart from just hope that Alex would be as OK as Harry and Madam Pomfrey reassured them that he would be. Hugo appeared after they had been waiting for outside the Hospital Wing for two hours.

“Where've you been?” Louis asked as Hugo dropped to the floor next to him.

“Library,” he said.

“Is that a bruise on your neck?” Hannah asked, leaning loser to him, “or a hickey?”

“I wish people who stop asking me that,” Hugo said moodily, rubbing his neck self-consciously, “it's a _rash_. I’m allergic to that bloody aftershave that Grandma bought me for my birthday,”

“Is there not something you could put on it?” Louis asked.

“I'll get around to it,” he said, “what's happened with Alex? Uncle Harry mentioned something about Quidditch,”

Hannah quickly filled Hugo in on what he had missed. They could still not work out why he had fallen off his broom in the first place. He had been completely stationary in the air at the time and they hadn't let the Bludgers out, so there was nothing that could have actually knocked him out of the air. Hannah just said that she looked over at him to say something, and he was gone.

“We’re just lucky he wasn't too high in the air,” Louis said. Lily shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if he had been higher up in the air when he had fallen.

Finally, Madam Pomfrey opened the doors of the Hospital Wing and allowed them in. The four of them hurried to the end of the dormitory where Alex was. One of his arms and one of his legs were wrapped in thick bandages and he looked quite pale.

“How are you feeling?” Hugo asked.

“Is that a hickey?”

“For fucks sake,” Hugo said, “No! It's a _rash_!”

“Oh,” Alex said, “Well, it's an unfortunate shape,” he groaned slightly, “my head is killing me. My entire body is, actually,”

“How did you even fall off?” Hannah asked, “you weren't moving!”

“I thought I got hit by a Bludger,” Alex said, frowning.

“No,” Hannah said, “we hadn't let the Bludgers out, which is why we weren't doing anything,”

Alex’s frown deepened, “But I felt something hit me. Was it the Quaffle?”

“No, the rest of the team were flying above us. I didn't see anything hit you,”

“I swear to god something hit me,” Alex said, “I actually felt something hit me in the back,”

The doors of the Hospital Wing flung open, revealing Alex’s parents: Stacey and Albert. They both looked quite worried and Lily had to jump out of the way before Albert flattened her against the wall.

“Don't hug me!” Alex said quickly as Stacey went to put her arms around him, “Sorry, I'm in too much pain,”

“I've always hated Quidditch,” Stacey muttered, smoothing down his hair, “it's such a stupid game,”

Lily gave Louis a very pointed look who just rolled his eyes at her. After a while, they decided to leave him alone with his parents and slowly walked to the Great Hall to get eat their dinner. Louis, Hugo and Hannah were all in deep conversation about something, but Lily was not listening. She couldn't help but feel like there was something sinister about the fact that Alex had fallen off his broom despite not really having a reason to do so.

“What are you thinking dramatically about, Lils?” Hannah asked when they sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table.

“It's just a bit weird, isn't it?” Lily said, “how he fell off his broom out of nowhere?”

“I don't think there's some crazy conspiracy theory behind it,” Hugo said thoughtfully, “I think it was some freak accident,”

“I'm sure that Hugo will ask him one million questions when he gets out of hospital,” Hannah said dryly.

“Shut up, Cherrie,” Hugo snapped.

“Whatever you say, Mr Hickey,”

“It's a rash!”

“If that's a rash then I'm in Gryffindor,” Hannah sighed.

“For fucks sake, I had an allergic reaction to a bottle of aftershave! What is it with you lot and your bloody conspiracy theories,”

“Is it a conspiracy theory if it has truth behind it?” Louis asked.

Hugo flung a potato at Louis’ head and lost Ravenclaw five points when Professor Sprout walked passed at the exact wrong moment.

“You are strangely defensive about something that isn't true,” Hannah said.

“It's a rash!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it a rash? Is it a hickey? Who is the strange man? Who knows? (Me. I know).
> 
> Anyway, thank-you for reading!!


	17. Attacks, Again.

The Lily was still confused about how Alex fell off his broom in Quidditch practice and was starting to think she saw perpetually confused about everything; she was confused as to why Hugo was being so secretive suddenly, confused about why David Addington-Oakes had not said one mean thing about her in almost two weeks and was  _ very  _ confused about the Transfiguration essay that she was trying to write. 

Annoyingly, she seemed to be the only person who cared about the strange circumstances in which Alex had fallen off his broom. Even Alex was not curious about it. He was just angry about the fact that he would have to miss the first game of the season against Gryffindor and Hannah was angry because that would impact the teams chances of winning. Even Hugo was uninterested about the whole thing, and Lily had been counting on him to ask as many questions and was humanly possible until they found out of the truth. 

“Hugo-”

“If you mention Alex falling off his broom one more time, I'm going to hit you with this book,” Hugo whispered, picking up a particularly thick book that was in front of them. They were sat in the library and Madam Pince was prowling unnervingly close to them. 

“I wasn’t going to mention that, actually!” Lily hissed, punching him in the arm, “I was going to ask if I could copy your-”

“Transfiguration essay?” He sighed, sliding it over to her, “Yes,” 

“Life saver,” Lily said. 

“Can I copy it as well?” Hannah asked.

“No,”

“But I'll end up copying Lily's anyway, so why not?”

“Because you're a dic-”

“ _ Shhh!”  _

Lily jumped and turned around, smiling apologetically at Madam Pince. She stood staring at them with narrowed eyes for a moment before stalking away, no doubt to shout at someone else. Whilst Hugo turned back to whatever essay he was writing, Hannah snatched the Transfiguration essay from between Lily and Hugo and placed it between her and Lily instead. 

“Sometimes, I genuinely dislike him,” Hannah whispered to Lily, “he's hiding something!” 

“I’m not hiding anything!” Hugo snapped. 

“Yeah, and I'm a Hippogriff,” 

Their quiet bickering lasted until they all finished their work, though Lily was quite sure that Hannah had not finished any of her work and probably would not until the very last minute. Madam Pince seemed quite happy to see the back of them when they passed her on the way out of the library, and Lily could not help but feel like there was nothing quite as depressing as spending their Sunday morning in the library. 

“I’m going for a walk,” Hugo said suddenly. 

“I’ll come with you,” Hannah said. 

“No, you don't have to do that,” He said quickly, “I need to be on my own,”

Hannah raised her eyebrows at him, “Is that just code for ‘I need to be on my own so I can meet someone’?”

“No!” He said, “it means I'm going for a walk to clear my head,” 

“I have an emergency meeting with the Quidditch team anyway because Alex decided to throw himself off his broom,” Hannah sighed. 

“I don't think he  _ decided- _ ” Lily began but Hannah quickly cut across her. 

“I love you, Lils, but I don't feel like hearing about anymore of your weird arse conspiracy theories,” she said, “I shall love you both, and leave you,” 

“Yep,” Hugo muttered, “I shall hate you, and leave you,” 

Hannah watched Hugo walk away and then turned back around to Lily, “Your lack of interest in your cousins personal life is upsetting to me. See you!” 

Lily stayed stood outside for the library for a few minutes, trying to think of something to pass the time until lunch. Louis was probably outside somewhere with some sort of magical creature but she did not feel like braving the rain to find him, and Alex was somewhere in the dungeons, probably feeling sorry for himself. Deciding that sitting with Alex and listening to him complain for forty five minutes was her best option, she turned in the direction of the dungeons and wished that he would show some interest in the fact that he had fallen off his broom in such strange circumstances before she remembered that she could talk to an entire group of people who would be interested in hearing her talk about it. 

Glancing up and down the corridor to make sure that no one saw her, Lily hurried to the nearest broom cupboard and slipped in it, casting  _ Muffliato  _ so that no one outside would hear and silently thanking Teddy for telling her about it. She settled herself down on an upturned bucket and turned the Stone over three times. As always, she felt a pinch of guilt as the bright light filled the small room but that was soon forgotten about when her family came into focus. 

“I think I miss the forest, you know,” Sirius said, glancing around the room, “I've always hated broom cupboards,” 

“I'm not walking all the way into the forest. It takes too long,” Lily said, “I’ve cast  _ Muffliato,  _ it's fine,”

“I used to have a lot of uses for that spell,” Sirius sighed, glancing sideways at Remus. 

“What's  _ that  _ meant to mean?” Lily asked. 

“Nothing,” Lily Potter said quickly, “He's just being stupid. Are you OK, you look...stressed,”

“She always looks stressed,” Fred remarked. 

“It's nothing,” Lily said, choosing to ignore Fred, “it's just...Alex fell off his broom during Quidditch practice-”

“Which ones Alex? The one you don't like?” James asked. 

“No, that's The Bloody Idiot. Alex is her best friend,” Remus said, “keep up, Prongs,” 

“He fell of his broom but...he shouldn't have. He wasn't moving in the air but he swears that he felt something hit him in the back, but there was nothing around  _ to  _ hit him in the back. No Bludgers, no Quaffles...nothing!” 

They all looked thoughtful for a moment, although Lily could tell that they knew as little as she did. 

“Could have been a Gryffindor trying to pick the Slytherin team off,” Fred said, “that sort of a thing was a nightmare when I was in school. Me and your dad were the perpetrators of a lot of Slytherin injuries though, I won't lie,” he added. 

Lily shook her head, “no, it's not that. There's no house rivalry anymore. Everyone sits at whatever table they want in the Great Hall and the common rooms are basically open to everyone,”

“Lydia started that,” Lily Potter said, a hint of pride in her voice, “I always said it should have been like that when I was in school, and people thought I was crazy!” 

“You  _ were  _ crazy, Evans,” Sirius said. He turned back to Lily, “are you sure he didn't just lose his grip?” 

Lily shook her head, “There's no way. He wasn't moving at the time,”

“What else is bothering you?” James asked, “you look like Lydia does when she's about to hex someone,” 

“Well...” She sighed, “I don’t know if it means anything but there was this man in Hogsmeade...” When she finished telling the story, the four of them exchanged worried glances which made Lily feel like she shouldn't have said anything. The last thing she needed was for them to panic about something that was beyond their control. Though, really, there wasn't much that  _ wasn't  _ beyond their control. 

“And he spoke to Louis, too?” Remus asked. 

Lily nodded, “which is why I think it's weird! And it's weird that he  _ told  _ me that I look my mum. I know I look a lot like her, but I've never actually had a stranger say it to my face!”

“It's probably nothing,” Fred reassured her, “you are from a famous family,” 

“If you were living in a time of war, then it would be something to worry about, but you aren't,” Lily Potter said, “so I really don't think you need to worry yourself too much,”

“It's probably just a coincidence,” Remus added. 

“That shouldn't mean you shouldn't be wary of what's going on around you, all things considered with your mum being your mum and your Uncle Harry being your Uncle Harry,” Sirius said seriously. 

“Yeah,” James said, “like how people were after me because of my dads hair potion empire,” 

“I think there's a  _ slight  _ difference between your dad making a hair potion and your mum being the Girl who Lived,” Remus said. 

“You’re only saying that because your hairs shit,” James snapped. 

“Ooh,” Sirius said, wincing slightly, “Prongs saying your hair is shit is like Snivellus saying that you need to wash your hair,” 

“So you just think that it's a coincidence?” Lily asked.

“Yes,” Lily Potter replied, “I'm sure it is,” 

Slightly disappointed that she was still the only person in the castle who found all of this interesting, Lily pocketed the Stone and slipped out of the broom cupboard unnoticed and was pleased to see that it was almost time for lunch. Her stomach rumbling, Lily hurried down to the Great Hall and wondered how much food it would take to block out Hannah and Hugo’s inevitable bickering about whatever it was that Hugo was handing. Lily had tried to point out that Hugo did have a right to privacy but Hannah would hear none of it and was quite determined to find out what he was so secretive about. 

When Lily got to the Great Hall, however, and spotted Hannah, Hugo, Louis and Alex sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, she realised that something wasn't quite right. Everyone seemed oddly tense and all seemed to be talking in hushed tones. Feeling as though she had missed out on something important, Lily dropped onto the bench next to Alex and looked at them all expectantly. 

“Anyone want to tell me what's going on?” Lily asked. 

Hannah leaned over to the table, talking in a very quiet voice.

“Two muggle-borns were attacked in Hogsmeade,” she said, “they don't know who by, and that's why people are panicked,” 

“I can guarantee that my mum is having some sort of nervous breakdown somewhere in the depths of the Ministry of Magic,” Hugo said, “so we should all start praying that it gets sorted out soon or Christmas at the Granger-Weasley’s will  _ not  _ be fun,” 

“These muggle-borns,” Lily said, also shuddering at the thought of Christmas if Aunt Hermione did not somehow sort this out, “they don't go to Hogwarts, do they?” 

“No,” Alex said in a hollow sort of voice, “they were apparently leaving the Three Broomsticks and then these two people appeared and attacked them. They’re in St Mungo’s now, I think,” 

“These are like the attacks that my dad says started in the lead up to the war,” Louis said, “according to him, there used to be loads of stories about them in the Prophet all the time,” 

Lily Potter's voice suddenly echoed through Lily's mind, “ _ If you were living in a time of war, then it would be something to worry about, but you aren't, so I really don't think you need to worry yourself too much,”  _

“Yeah, but, another war isn't going to break out, is it?” Lily said.

Hannah shrugged, “I don't know. I guess people never thought that there would be a second war but...” 

Lily glanced up at the staff table to see how Harry was reacting to all this, but he wasn't there. Feeling herself beginning to panic, Lily glanced down at her plate and tried to concentrate on her food whilst feeling as though the man in Hogsmeade, Alex falling off his broom and these muggle-borns were too similar to not be linked.

“I'm going to see Uncle Harry,” Lily said, suddenly losing her appetite and rushing out of the hall and up to his office, bursting in without knocking. 

“Uncle Harry, I need to-” she paused, “Oh. You’re not Uncle Harry,” 

“No, I'm your Aunt Hermione. Remember me?” 

Lily smiled, “Vaguely. Where's Uncle Harry?” 

“Here,” came a disgruntled voice from behind Lily. She turned around to find Harry stomping into his office, “you OK?” 

Feeling as though having to speak about this in front of Aunt Hermione was not the greatest thing in the world but not really knowing the best way to get out of it, Lily sat in the seat next to Hermione's and tried to look as though she wasn't panicking as much as she actually was. 

“It's probably nothing,” she began, “but...” and she launched not the story of the strange man in Hogsmeade and how she couldn't help but feel like it was somehow connected with Alex and the Muggleborn attack. 

Harry and Hermione both exchanged looks that Lily couldn't quite read but did not say something straight away. 

“I know it sounds crazy, but-”

“It doesn't sound crazy,” Hermione said gently, “I actually came to Hogwarts because I was worried that Alex and the attack were somehow connected. What did this man look like?”

The fact that the Minister for Magic, of all people, were on her side made her feel as though she wasn't actually losing her mind,”

“I don't know,” Lily said, “he was wearing dark robes. That's all I can remember. He spoke to Louis, too. Is it all connected?”

“We don't know,” Harry said quickly, “but it really isn't something that you need to be worrying yourself about. You’re too young to worry about stuff like this,” 

“You were seventeen when you won the war,” Lily pointed out. She turned to Hermione, “and you were fourteen when you started SPEW,” 

“S.P.E.W,” Hermione corrected her, “but that and the war was different,” 

“We’re also not fighting a war, right now, Lily. And even if we were, you would  _ not  _ be involved,” Harry said firmly, “None of you would,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’ve been so bad at updating, but I’m going to get back into the swing of things soon, I PROMISE! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!   
> <3 
> 
> -E.


	18. Full Boy who Lived

Lily could not help but notice a change in the way the atmosphere felt after the attack in Hogsmeade. Many Muggle-borns now travelled in packs, and some even said that they might not go back into the village for the last trip before the christmas holidays. Hannah was on tenterhooks because she had somehow managed to convince herself that Lily, Hugo, Alex and Louis were all in some sort of trouble because they weren’t pureblood.

“I am actually pureblood,” Louis pointed out.

“Yeah, but you’re also a quarter Veela!”

Louis rolled his eyes as they made their way over to the Great Hall. After so much worry, Professor McGonagall had called the entire school into the Hall to put their minds at rest. Lily was quite sure that nothing would be able to put Hannah’s mind at rest, but she felt like McGonagall had a better chance of doing it than anyone else. Particularly Hugo, who had reminded Hannah that if the attackers were Death Eaters like they were rumoured to be, anyone connected to the Children who Lived would be first on their list to attack next.

“Before you get murdered, will you tell me who your secret girlfriend is?” Hannah asked.

She had taken to springing this question onto him whenever he was least expecting it in the hopes that he would slip up at some point.

“I can tell you who it isn’t,” Hugo said as they sat down halfway up the Hufflepuff table with Molly.

“Process of elimination!” Hannah exclaimed, “I can get on board with that,”

“It’s not you,” Hugo said, “it’s not Daisy Williams, the other Hannah or Alexandra whats-her-face, it’s also not-”

“Right!” Hannah snapped, “I get it. You’re not going to tell me. I just feel that as your best friend, you should trust-”

Hannah’s guilt tripping was cut short by Professor McGonagall standing up and clearing her throat. Immediately, everyone fell silent and, as always, Lily was amazed at the control that she had over the entire school. If Lily was headmistress, she’d probably spend a large majority of her time trying to get students to listen to her instead of getting on with whatever it was she was meant to be doing.

“Good afternoon, students,” Professor McGonagall said, “I know that many, if not all, of you have become very worried about the attacks in Hogsmeade. For many of the teachers, and perhaps your parents and older family members, these are the kind of reports that we became used to reading about in the morning Daily Prophet in the nineties. Which is why Professor Potter has offered to take any question. As The Boy who Lived, an ex-Auror and Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, he is more than qualified,”

Some from the Gryffindor table whooped as Harry stood up and he glared in their general direction as he leant back against the staff table and folded his arms. Lily was quite sure that the last thing Harry wanted was to be questioned about the Dark Arts in front of the entire school, but she seemed to be the only one who caught onto this.

“Have you seen Uncle Harry go full Boy who Lived in class, yet?” Hugo asked, smirking.

“What's full Boy who Lived?” Molly asked.

“You’re about to find out,” Louis sighed, “when he gets going, it’s hard to shut him up,”

“Yeah, when you start doing proper defensive spells, you’ll find out that he has an anecdote to every single one,” Lily said, “it’s impressive the first five times he tells the story about how he fought off four wizards on his own when he was an Auror, but then it just gets boring,”

“I know you’re all panicking,” Harry said, “so don’t be embarrassed about sounding panicked, because you’re not alone in being panicked. So, questions?”

“Anyone think he’s panicking?” Hannah asked quietly, “he’s said panicked a lot,”

There was a flurry of movement as hands shot into the air. As anyone could have predicted, Hugo’s hand went in the air. Everyone in the vicinity groaned at the sight of Hugo with his hand up, including Harry.

“Yes, Hugo?”

“You know these Death Eaters-”

“Not Death Eaters,” Harry said quickly.

“Yeah, well, these people. How do they even know people's blood status? It’s not something that you can tell by looking at someone!”

“That is true,” Harry said, “the victims of this attack worked on Minister Granger’s campaign when she was running for Minister for Magic three years ago, and were quite open about the fact that they were Muggleborn,”

“So, should we stop talking about our blood status?” someone called out from the Ravenclaw table.

“No,” Harry said hurriedly, “no. You shouldn’t be scared into not being proud of who you are. That's what they want,”

“How do we know they’re not death eaters?” Alex asked, “this sounds like something that death eaters would do,”

“Because if it were death eaters, then they’d conjure the dark mark,” Harry said, “and be thankful that they didn’t. It's scary,”

“Is this how the war started last time?”

“Um...” he glanced sideways at McGonagall, “listen, there was attacks last time, but this time it’s different. We’ve learned a lot from the second war and we also have a competent Minister for Magic this time. Not that I’m biased,” he added.

“Yes, he is,” Louis muttered.

“Do you think there's going to be another war?” The Bloody Idiot asked from the Slytherin table.

“Who asked him?” Hannah muttered, “if there is another war, I’m hoping he’s first on the front line,”

“Don’t be awful,” Hugo said.

Hannah raised her eyebrows at him, “you’ve spent the best part of four years talking about how you’d love to fight him!”

“I don’t think there's going to be another war,” Harry said firmly, “for one thing, there’s no obvious leader. Last time, it was pretty obvious that Voldemort was the leader of the other side. Even before the first war, he’d been causing small comotions that lead to the war. The Ministry are quite certain that there's no one to be worried about,”

“But you always said that the Ministry had no idea what they were doing last time!” The Bloody Idiot snapped, “why should we trust them now?”

“Because this time, the Ministry is being ran by Hermione Granger,” Harry said bluntly, “and even if someone were to crop up in the next few weeks, she take them lightly. She doesn’t take anything lightly,”

“Truer words have never been spoken,” Hugo sighed.

“Do you think there's going to be another attack?” Someone asked.

Harry paused for a moment, “I honestly couldn't say. All I can say is that you should be on alert until someone is arrested,”

“Do you think that someone will be arrested?” The Bloody Idiot asked.

“At some point, yes,” Harry said confidently, “I can’t imagine that they’ll be able to hide in the shadows for much longer. As you can imagine, the Minister has been working overtime with the Aurors and Department of Magical Law Enforcement to bring these people to justice,”

This went on for sometime. Lily was quite sure that after an hour and half, people were just trying to drag it on for as long as possible. Not that she minded, the longer Harry spoke, the longer they were out of class. Lily had already missed Transfiguration and Arithmancy and suddenly felt as though she had very little to complain about.

By the time he had finished speaking, the day had come to an end and there was no need to leave the Great Hall for dinner was about to start. Looking quite exhausted, Harry ran a hand through his hair and made it look even worse than usual.

“If you still have any questions, you can come and see me at any time,” he said, “my door is always open. And,” he added, suddenly looking grave, “if anyone is heard saying anything prejudiced about those of muggle parentage, you will be dealt with accordingly. Because that isn’t what I fought for, it’s not what my sister fought for, it’s not what the other teachers fought for and I imagine that it isn’t what some of your parents fought for,”

“And that, Mols, is Uncle Harry going full Boy who Lived,” Hugo grinned.

“Yeah, I get it now,” Molly said, nodding, “full Boy who Lived,”

\---

Despite the fact that Uncle Harry was still going out of his way to make sure that the entire school weren't panicking too much, everyone still seemed to be panicking. Hannah most of all. It didn’t even matter how often someone pointed out to her that, as a Pureblood, there was very little for her too worry about. The fact that David Addington-Oakes kept on pointing out that being a Blood Traitor was just as bad probably wasn't helping.

“Didn't all the Weasleys get in shit for hanging around with so many Muggleborns and half bloods?” He asked when they were stood outside Potions.

Hugo rolled his eyes, “I’m pretty sure the Dark Lords biggest problem with them was the fact that my dad was best mates with Uncle Harry and Aunt Lydia and the fact that Uncle George was engaged to Aunt Lydia,”

“But if there's going to be another Dark Lord-”

“There's not going to be another Dark Lord, David!” Hugo snapped.

“Whatever you say, Hugo,”

The dungeon door opened and Professor Slughorn stuck his head out, looking quite confused.

“Is someone having an argument?” He asked.

“No, Professor,” Alex said, “just Hugo going on with himself.

Slughorn nodded and did not press the issue any further, “Come in, come in...”

“Oi, weirdo!” Hannah hissed at Hugo as they sat down, “since when have you been on a first name basis with Addington-Oakes?”

“Since when have I been on - what?” he asked. He suddenly turned red, “I didn't - I don’t - I never even...”

He was saved from his spluttering by Slughorn calling for attention and beginning to explain what they were going to be doing that day. Lily's heart sank slightly when she glanced up at the board - they would be brewing a Wit-Sharpening Potion that day. And whilst it was not a particularly hard potion to brew, she had written a terrible essay on it the previous week and felt as though she would greatly benefit from drinking some of the potion herself.

“Maybe if I drink this I’ll work out who your secret girlfriend is,” Hannah said to Hugo as she lit the fire underneath her cauldron.

“I highly doubt that,” Hugo said.

“Can you please just tell her?” Alex moaned, “so she shuts up about it?”

“Nope!” Hugo said brightly, “hey, Lily, can I borrow your Armadillo Bile? I've ran out of mine,”

“Sure, whatever,” Lily muttered, not really listening to what was going on around her.

All she really wanted to do was get this Potion right and drag herself out of the weird slump that she was in. The thought of losing the talent that she had when it came to Potion making terrified her. She could not do much outside of Potions and would have no idea what she would do with her life if she couldn't make a simple Potion.

The lesson went by quickly and by the end of it, Lily felt as though she hadn’t done nearly as bad as she had done recently. She certainly hadn't done as bad as Hannah who's Potion had melted right through the table and onto the floor. Even Professor Slughorn had laughed jovially at Hannah when she had done this because even he couldn't work out what she had done that was so wrong.

“She didn't grind the scarab beetles enough,” Lily said, noticing the mistake almost immediately, “and then she only mixed the Armadillo Bile until it was dark green, not yellow. Those two things mixing is what caused the reaction,”

Slughorn stared at her for a few moments and then nodded, “Very well done, Lily! Even I did not notice that! Take ten points for Slytherin!”

David Addington-Oakes then proceeded to have a coughing fit that sounded an awful lot like him saying, “teachers pet,” and Lily found that she couldn't care less.

When the bell rang, Lily packed her things away and went to leave the room, but Professor Slughorn called her back. Muttering to the others that she’d catch up with them, she turned on her heel and walked over to Slughorn's desk and dropped into the seat in front of it when he gestured for her to.

“I heard about what happened with Professor Jowell,” he said, “and I’m not here to talk about that-” he said quickly, “-I just wanted to apologise to you if my comparing you to your grandmother has upset you at any point,”

Lily shook her head, “No, Professor, that - that doesn't bother me,”

Slughorn smiled at her and nodded, “I just wanted to make sure. And...another thing. You know that you're a very gifted Potions maker, I could even seeing you being a very talented Potions Mistress one day. Whether working for the Ministry, here at school, with St Mungo's or even working for yourself...”

Lily frowned at him, expecting a ‘but’.

“But I can't help but notice that your grades have been suffering recently,”

“I know,”

“Is something bothering you?”

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it again. She could probably tell Professor Slughorn about the Stone. She knew that he would not angry at her, and would probably do nothing but offer good advice. But as always, something stopped her and she just shrugged her shoulders.

“I don't know what's going on,” Lily admitted, “I am still trying my hardest,”

“Well, you certainly did well today, Lily. I really don't think that's it something that we need to be worrying about,” Slughorn said, “something else I want to talk to you about - I don't know if your mother or Uncle Harry have ever spoken to you about the Slug Club,”

Lily chose to just nod along instead. She had heard many stories about the Slug Club and it not sound very fun.

“I have not done it for a while, but I am thinking about bringing it back,” Slughorn continued, “and I think you would enjoy it. Your cousins, as well,”

“Sure. I’ll come,” Lily said, though she felt like if her mother were there, she would do anything to prevent Lily from actually going.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!!!! 
> 
> Also, I don't know if anyone has watched/read the Handmaids Tale but today when I typed 'Aunt Lydia' I realised how creepy it actually is because of Aunt Lydia from the Handmaids Tale lmao. It's deffo too late for me to change her name though whoops. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're still enjoying! 
> 
> -E.


	19. Hogwarts Best and Brightest

Lily was quite sure that none of her cousins would ever forgive her for accidentally agreeing to joining Slug Club on their behalf. Hugo was sat in a stony silence next to her, glaring across the table at David Addington - Oakes who looked quite pleased to be there. Slughorn was sat at the head of the table, looking as jovial as ever. Dominique and Louis were both wearing identical glares on their faces and Molly looked as though she was already considering leaving school despite it only being her first year. Every single one of them had heard horror stories about how much Harry, Lydia and Hermione had hated Slug Club, and every single one of them had been quite pleased with the fact that Slughorn seemed to have forgotten that Slug Club had ever been a good thing. Even Hugo had not asked Slughorn millions of questions. 

“Welcome, everyone!” Slughorn chortled, clapping his hands together and standing up, “it has been a while since I held these little get togethers, but I have missed them and after seeing how many bright students have been passed through these halls these past few years, I thought it was about time that I invited you all!” he chuckled again and looked around at the assembled students. Lily didn’t know the names of every single one of them, but she had a feeling that by the end of the night, she would have somehow been forced to have a conversation with every single one of them. 

“Before we start, I would like to toast, to you! To Hogwarts best and brightest!” Slughorn said. 

There was a half-hearted murmuring back but this didn’t seem to stop Slughorn from ploughing on. 

“Now, Hugo, I must ask, how is your mother?” Slughorn asked, turning to him. 

“She is... being like my mother,” Hugo said, “So you can imagine how she is,”

Slughorn chuckled, “Yes, I remember what she was like in school for the two years that I taught her. Very, very hardworking. It’s no wonder that she became Minister for Magic. Do you plan on following in her footsteps?”

Hugo scoffed, “No. I don’t want to go into the Ministry. I mean, my mum  _ and  _ my sister work there. And two of my uncles,” 

“And your cousin,” Dominique reminded him, “and your Auntie,” 

“And grandad,” Louis said. 

“Yeah, I try and actively avoid my family when I don’t need to see them,” Hugo said, “So the Ministry is a no go for me,”

“Well the entire Weasley family _are_ delightful!”  Slughorn said, “how are your parents, Lily?”

“Oh, um, they’re fine,” Lily said, wishing she had something more interesting to say, “Mum is still working with werewolves and dad is still running the shop with Uncle Ron,”

“Do you think that you might end up working with your dad one day?” Slughorn asked. 

“No,” Lily said quickly, “No. Merlin, no,” 

Slughorn smiled and nodded, “I must admit, I am glad to hear that. I think you’d do more than fine in the Potion-Making Industry. What about you, David? What do you want to do once you leave school?”

“Here we go...” Louis muttered. 

“I wouldn’t mind going into teaching, actually, sir,” he said, “maybe Arithmancy or Ancient Runes,”

“Fuck sake,” Hugo muttered, “imagine  _ him  _ being your teacher? I would kill-”

“Was there something you wanted to say, Hugo?” Slughorn asked. 

“I was just saying how I think that David would be a great teacher, Professor!” 

“Thanks, Hugo!” David said, grinning at him. 

“I so wish this was duelling club so I could hex him without getting in trouble,” Hugo murmured. 

The night passed slowly, and by the end of it, Lily had never been so thankful to have the entire weekend ahead of her to do absolutely nothing. This illusion of bliss was shattered, however, when Slughorn wished the Quidditch players amongst them good luck for the match the next. Lily had completely forgotten that she would have to spend too long sat in the freezing cold of the stands and pretend to know what was going on in the air above her. 

“See you tomorrow, Lils,” Hugo said when they finally got out of Slughorn’s office. 

“Are you not coming back to the Slytherin common room?” she asked, looking down at her watch, “we’re not that close to curfew and I’ve got the Marauders Map if you need to get back,” 

He paused for a moment and then shook his head, “Nah, I’m tired. See you in the morning,”

“Alright,” Lily said, “See you,” 

“Oh, actually, can I have the Marauders Map? I need to go and speak to Uncle Harry about something and you know how much he goes on with himself sometimes,” 

When Lily got back to the Slytherin common room, the first thing that Hannah asked was where Hugo was. 

“He’s with Uncle Harry,” Dominique said. 

“A likely story...” Hannah muttered. 

“What?” Dominique asked, “I don’t understand,” 

Alex rolled his eyes, “Hugo has a secret girlfriend and Hannah is determined to find out who she is. At this point, I don’t actually think that he has a secret girlfriend, I think he’s just fucking with Hannah for the fun of it,” 

“Why don’t you check the Marauders Map to see where he is?” Dominique suggested. “Not that I condone stalking him. Or anyone,” she added hastily. 

Hannah gasped and turned to Lily, holding out her hand, “Give me the map, then!”

“I don’t have it,” Lily said, “I just gave it to Hugo,”

Hannah groaned and flopped back down into her chair, her hands over her face, “He asked for that on purpose so we  _ can’t  _ stalk him!”

“How selfish of him,” Louis muttered, “not wanting his family and friends watching his every mood. Honestly, the nerve-”

“Shut up, Lou,” Hannah snapped, “I have the right to complain about this. I have the right to do whatever I-”

“Team! Bed!” The Slytherin captain suddenly shouted, jumping up from where she was sat. 

“I have the right to do whatever I want apart from stay up,” Hannah sighed. 

“That's my cue to go to bed, too,” Alex sighed, “I’m not actually allowed to play tomorrow, but I can pretend,”

\---

When Lily woke up the next morning, she seemed to have decided that she wasn’t going to go to the Quidditch match in her sleep. The thought of sitting in the stands for hours with a very grumpy Alex did not appeal to her and when she told Hannah this, she was surprisingly understanding. So, when eleven o’clock rolled around, she realised that she had nothing to do because the castle was deserted. Her first thought was to use the Stone but she really was trying to stop using it. To distract herself from the weight of the stone in her pocket, she wrapped herself up in her cloak and a jumper that her Grandma had knitted her the previous christmas and decided to go and pay Hagrid a visit, providing he wasn’t watching the match. 

Thankfully, Lily could see Hagrid moving around in his hut when she neared it and was grateful for the fact that she would have something to do whilst everyone else was enjoying Quidditch. When she knocked on the door, Hagrid flung it open almost immediately and seemed quite pleased to see her on account of how much he shouted when he saw that it was her. 

“Lily! I haven’ seen yeh apart from in class! I thought yeh’d forgotten where I live!”

“Sorry, Hagrid,” she said, “I’ve been...busy,” 

“Not to worry, not to worry!” he beamed, “come on in, come on in. I thought yeh’d be at the match Want a cup o’ tea?” 

“Go on then,” she said, “and Quidditch isn’t really my thing,”

“Even from a family like yours?” he asked, pouring tea into a mug for her.  When Lily opened her mouth to retaliate, he just laughed and waved his hand, “am jus’ pullin’ yeh leg, Lily! There’s nothing wrong with bein’ the black sheep of the family! I was!”

“But I suppose it’s hard to  _ not  _ be the black sheep of the family when you’re a half giant,” 

Hagrid paused for a moment and looked thoughtful before nodding, “Yeh’re right there, Lily, yeh’re right there. It doesn’ bother yeh though, does it?”

Lily shrugged, “I don’t know. Sometimes it bothers me because I feel like I should like Quidditch but I guess there's more important things to worry about,” 

“An’ yeh mother was a black sheep in her own right. I’ll never forget the day she was sorted into Slytherin! Mind you, back in those days, it wasn’t a good house to be sorted into. Yeh lucky yeh parents did what they did to change that,” Hagrid said wisely. 

“Do you think they’ll have to do it again?” Lily asked before she could stop herself, “or do you think that someone else will have to do? After all these attacks?” 

“If yeh think that yeh’ll have to be the one to do somet if these attacks means anythin’, yeh can pack that right in!” Hagrid chuckled, “with Hermione in charge, I don’ think they’ll be anyone under the age of seventeen fighting. An’ I think tha seventeen might even be pushing it in her eyes,” 

“But do you think that that’ll e a decision that she’ll have to make?” Lily persisted, knowing that Hagrid would probably let something slip. 

“I couldn’ say, Lily, I really couldn’ say,” he smiled at her, “but yeh shouldn’ be worryin’ yehself about it. I don’ think that they’ll be another war like last time where we all have to fight...nah...I think this’ll be a fight for the ministry and the ministry  _ only _ . It doesn’ feel like last time..it doesn’ even feel like the time before tha’. I think yeh mum and yeh uncle stamped ‘em all out well and good last time,”

“I hope so,” Lily said, trying to sound as cheery as possible, “I’m not very good at duelling,”

Hagrid chuckled, “once yeh Uncle Harry teaches yeh, yeh’ll be unstoppable,”

“Providing Uncle Draco doesn’t stop him,” Lily laughed, “he gets very stressed out whenever any family member does anything that could end in even the slightest bit of injury,” 

“I remember Harry tellin’ me that him and Draco were together. Never seen him so nervous in his life. And this was  _ after  _ he’d duelled Voldemort,” 

Lily looked up interested. She had never heard this story before and had never even thought about how hard it must have been for Harry to explain to people that he and Draco were together. After only ever known Harry and Draco as being married, she had never really thought about the years leading up to that actually happening.

“For some reason, he thought that I’d hate him afterwards,” Hagrid shook his head, “as if I’d ever turn my back on him! Or any of them kids, for that matters! Or any of their kids!” 

“Must’ve been hard for him, though,” 

“Course it was! Course it was...but yeh family is made of strong stuff...the stuff yeh lot have been through! Yeh lot can get through anythin’,” 

“Well, we got through my dad having glasses. Thats been difficult,” 

“If there's anythin’ that could destory tha’ family, it’s tha’,” Hagrid said, nodding his head and looking solemn. 

When Lily got back to common room, she was met with a blast of noise after muttering the password, which she gathered as confirmation that Slytherin had won the match. Lily finally found Hannah sat in her usual seat with Alex and Louis, all of whom looked very happy. Lily glanced around the room trying to find Hugo, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

“Where’s Hugo?” she asked, sitting next to Hannah, “congratulations on winning the match, by the way,”

“Thank-you!” she beamed, “and I don’t know. He said that he was going to meet you,”

Lily shrugged, “I was with Hagrid. We must have missed each other,”

“Or he’s with his secret-”

“Don’t finish that sentence, for the love of Merlin,” Louis interrupted. 

“You know it’s true!” Hannah exclaimed. 

“Listen,” Alex said, “if Hugo has a girlfriend, then good for him, but there’s  _ obviously _ a reason that he doesn’t want to tell us who she is,” 

Lily had a feeling that the reason that Hugo wasn’t telling them who his secret girlfriend was was because she wasn’t as female as Hannah thought she was. But feeling as though it  _ definitely  _ wasn’t her place to say anything, she stayed quiet and just let Hannah keep wondering. Hugo would talk to them when he was ready, if what she was even thinking was true, of course

After two hours of socialising, Lily felt as though she had done her fair share and snuck off to her dormitory. At once, she dived towards her bed and snatched her book off her bedside table. It was another one that Aunt Hermione had sent her;  _ The Five People You Meet in Heaven _ by Mitch Albom. It was an ever so slightly depressing read but it did get her thinking about the five people that  _ she _ would meet once she died. Though, she did have a feeling that she had already met them on numerous occasions. Maybe in some cruel twist of irony, Lily would have to meet Lord Voldemort.

As the noise from the common room grew louder and louder, Lily could not focus on her book and threw it to the side, running a hand through her hair. Anyone else would just rejoin the party 

but Lily did not find anything quite as exhausting as social interaction. When this thought crossed her mind, she wondered if that meant that something was wrong with her. And if she needed to get some sort of help, but she quickly pushed this thought from her mind. There was nothing wrong with being an introvert, and that was all this was...she was just an introvert, and there was nothing sinister about that. 

Though, there might have been something slightly sinister about the fact that meeting Lord Voldemort on the way to heaven didn’t scare her as much as it should, because at least then everything would be over. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!! 
> 
> Sometimes I find writing Hagrids dialogue really difficult, so I hope that it's OK for you all to read!
> 
> -E.


	20. Christmas at Grimmauld Place

Lily had never been so happy to get to the end of term. Between having to attend Slug Club, listening to Hannah interrogate Hugo about his ‘girlfriend’ and sitting through Professor Jowell being muttering passive aggressively in her direction every lesson, she thought that she would never make it to Christmas. Then, of course, there was Slughorn's horrific Christmas party that she at least did not have to suffer through it alone for Slughorn had taken it upon himself to invite Lydia, George, Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione, none of whom were particularly happy to be there. 

“I don't know why I have to be here,” Uncle Draco muttered, “I'm not even famous!” 

“But you're married to the Boy who Lived,” Uncle Ron pointed out, “you’re famous by association,” 

“And, you know, I guess everything you did in the war kind of makes you famous,” George said. 

“I wish I wasn't here,” Dominique muttered, “I have much better things to be doing,” 

“Like what?” Hugo asked. 

“Sleeping. Working. Not being here,” Dominique said, “you know, all the normal stuff,”

“Well, you are, what was it that he called you? ‘Hogwarts best and brightest’!” Lydia smirked. 

“ _ You  _ were also Hogwarts best and brightest when you are at school,” Louis said. 

“No, I wasn't,” Lydia said, “I never went to Slug Club. I only ever went to his Christmas party in sixth year because Aunt Hermione forced me into it,” 

“I didn't  _ force  _ you,” Aunt Hermione said, “I just made you go,” 

“Oh, shit, there's that Daily Prophet photographer,” Uncle Harry said, “everyone split up, he won't take pictures of us on our own!” 

On reflection, the night might not have been so bad if not for the fact that they had to keep on stopping their conversations to hurry away from the photographer that seemed quite keen on getting a picture of them all together. Twice, Lily ended up having to stand with David Addington Oakes and his parents and twice, she left the conversation wanting to punch them all in the face. 

And so it was no wonder that in the first week of the Christmas holidays, Lily did nothing but sit in her room and try to ignore everyone for as long as possible before being surrounded by her entire family for three days straight at Grimmauld Place. With the family now being so big, it was nothing short of impossible to fit everyone into the Burrow so Uncle Harry and Draco had stepped up to the plate and agreed to host it at their house. Lily was not quite sure how she felt about this; it wasn't that she didn’t like spending time at Grimmauld Place, it was just that Mrs Black still terrified her and she found the room with the Black family tree on creepy and could not understand why they hadn't covered it up yet, but they insisted on keeping it because it was ‘historical,’. 

“You should have seen it when we first came here, Lils,” Uncle Harry said, over lunch on Christmas Eve, “it was inhabitable,” 

“Remember that chandelier that used to drop onto people who didn't have Pureblood when they walked underneath it?” Lydia sniggered, “I very nearly died under that on numerous occasions,” 

“Why did you keep on walking underneath it, then?” Ruby asked who was sporting a black eye after a training session that morning and holding an ice pack to it. 

“Because she has the attention span of a goldfish and kept on forgetting,” Aunt Hermione said absentmindedly, scribbling furiously on some parchment at the end of the table. 

“Why are you still working, mum?” Hugo asked, “don't you have Christmas off?”

“Holidays aren't great when you're the Minister for Magic,” she replied, not looking up from what she was writing, “but hopefully, these next few days should be quiet,” 

“Which is why I decided  _ not  _ to go into the Ministry,” James said, “because I get actual time off,” 

“You say that like the Ministry would actually take you on,” Rose muttered. 

“Shut up, Rosie,” James yawned. He turned to Lydia, “when are Ted and Freddie arriving?”

Lydia glanced down at her watch, “They’re both finishing work in an hour, so not long,” 

Lily shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took a massive gulp of her pumpkin juice. She had not actually had a proper conversation with either of her brothers since they had had that argument in Hogsmeade, and knew that if Lydia found out they weren't speaking, she would begin to panic that their family was falling apart. Lily was just banking on the fact that Fred and Teddy would either forget that they argued or no longer cared about it. Hopefully they'd be too happy about the fact that it was Christmas to care about a stupid argument they had almost four weeks ago. 

Indeed, when Teddy and Fred did eventually turn up, cheeks glowing red from the cold and shaking snow out of their hair, they did not at all seem to remember their trip to Hogsmeade for they didn’t mention it. As was the usual whenever James and Teddy were in the same room together, the day very quickly dissolved into mayhem and Draco hurriedly snapped the kitchen door shut in case Mrs Black heard all the commotion and decided to add to said commotion. 

“What times everyone coming tomorrow, H?” Lydia asked in the evening, flicking her wand a bottle of wine so that it poured a generous amount into the glasses in front of her and Aunt Hermione.

“Molly is coming early-ish,” Uncle Harry said, “so she can help with the dinner,” 

“Does ‘help with the dinner’ mean she’s going to cook the entire dinner whilst you hover in the kitchen?” 

“Obviously,” Uncle Harry said, “and then everyone else should be here about half one,” 

“Everyone else includes my parents,” Uncle Draco sighed, “so all in all, it should be a really fun christmas!”

“It’ll be fine,” Aunt Hermione said confidently, “fun, even,”

Uncle Draco rolled his eyes, “please, my father still can’t refer to Harry as my husband. Whenever he introduces us to new people, he says, “This is my son, Draco, and his  _ friend _ , Harry. Friend! How many friends do you know who get married and have kids?”

“According to Grandad, you and dad,” James said. 

“Yes, well, Merlin help the next person who has to explain to Lucius Malfoy that they’re gay,” Uncle Draco muttered. 

Without really meaning to, Lily looked up at Hugo just as Uncle Draco said this. His cheeks had gone slightly red and he was staring at the ceiling, as though he was hoping that it would fall on him. Not wanting to make him even more uncomfortable than he was probably already feeling, she looked away and wished that he would feel comfortable to talk about whatever was going on in his head. 

“I’m quite sure the next person who’ll have to explain to Lucius Malfoy that he’s gay is  _ you  _ dear,” Uncle Harry said, “since that’s how it usually goes,”

“Something I’ve always appreciated about this family is how bloody cheerful we all are,” Uncle Ron sighed happily. 

Quite suddenly, the flames in the fireplace glowed green and someone rather ungracefully, fell out. Lily jumped and hit her knee on the underside of the table and Teddy swore so loudly that her ears began to ring. For a few seconds, no one seemed to know what was happening or who had just appeared in the kitchen, until Hermione jumped up. 

“Cravers!” she exclaimed, and it took Lily a moment to realise that this was Hermione’s deputy minister, “what are you doing here? I thought you were in spain!”

“Sorry for intruding, Minister,” Cravers said, glancing around the room and wringing her hands together, “I was actually just leaving for Spain but then a report came into the office. There’s been another attack,” 

“Another? ”Aunt  Hermione asked weakly, “Muggle borns?”

“Yeah. One bloke,” Cravers said, nodding her head, “somewhere up north. I didn’t really have time to read it before coming here. I thought you’d want to hear it from me rather than the Daily Prophet,” 

“Right,” Aunt Hermione said, clapping her hands together and waving her wand so that her coat zoomed into the room, “Right. I’ll come to the Ministry now and make sure that-”

Cravers jumped in front of the fireplace, holding her hands out and frantically shaking her head. 

“No, no, Minister, you don’t have to do that. We’ve got more than enough people in the office and-”

“An attack on any muggleborn is an an attack on me,” Aunt Hermione said, quickly kissing Ron and hurrying around the table, “I also don’t need the Daily Prophet writing another article about how I don’t care about anyone other than myself,”

When Aunt Hermione had left, no one seemed to know what to do themselves. All Lily really wanted to do was talk about what the attack, but she had a feeling that she was probably in the minority for George had quickly struck up a conversation about the shop, and seemed to actively be avoiding any subject even close to the Ministry, Aunt Hermione or the attacks. Though Lily was quite sure that everyone was in similar states of panic. 

In the end, Lily gave up hope that someone would accidentally drop into the conversation that they should have been having and went to bed, her mind racing. Both attacks had been very close together and had both targeted muggleborns. Surely that meant that something untoward was going on? 

Christmas morning was not exactly a cheerful one. There was a slight tension in the air as they opened their presents and Lily felt as though her mother hugged her a little longer and a little tighter than she usually did, but it could have been her mind playing tricks on her. Aunt Hermione had still not returned home from work and with the Daily Prophet not being published on christmas day, there was no way to know exactly what had happened. 

When the rest of the Weasleys arrived (with the exception of Bill, Fleur, Dominique, Vicky and Louis who were in France) none of them were even aware that there had been another attack and had no heard anything. This did seem to calm most of the family down for they felt as though if it was worse, then the Ministry would have gone out of their way to make sure that the public knew what was going on. 

Just as Molly was serving dinner, Aunt Hermione toppled out of the fireplace, looking exhausted. There were deep, dark bags under her eyes and her hair was even bushier than usual. She simply waved her hand in greeting and then collapsed into the nearest chair, her head in her hands. She did not speak for a few moments and then looked up, smiling slightly. 

“Did I miss anything exciting?” she asked. 

“No,” Uncle Ron replied, “apart from presents. Is, um, is everything OK?”

“Yes. Fine. Everything is fine,” she reassured them, “it’ll all be sorted out sooner rather than later. There’s really nothing for you to worry about,”

Lily felt as though this might have been a slight lie but did not want to push the subject further. The last thing that they needed was anymore stress; Fred had received a letter off Mr Ollivander that morning with a list of all the things he needed to before he went back to work in three days, Teddy had realised that he had written a report for work completely wrong and Uncle Draco had been running around the house trying to make sure that everything was perfectly perfect but his parents arrived after dinner. 

Once the Malfoys did turn up, Lily and the rest of their cousins quickly excused them from the table and hurried as far as way from what could only be a very awkward evening. Ruby was not at all happy about Teddy dragging her out of the kitchen because she had been hoping to hear the attacks. 

“Ruby, do you really think that we’re not going to hear about that?” Teddy asked after he had shooed Molly and Lucy off to bed and pulling a bunch of Extendable Ears out of his pocket, “do you know how many of these things my dad leaves laying around the house? I have never paid for an Weasley Wizard Wheezes product in my life,"

“You’re really annoying, you know that?” Ruby snapped, taking one off him and putting it in her ear. 

“What's going on, ‘Mione?” Lydia asked, sounding as though she was stood right behind them, “should we be worried?”

“I honestly don't know anymore,” Aunt Hermione replied, “after the first one, I thought it was just a bunch of dickheads messing about, you know? But now I’m not so sure,” 

“Do you know who did it?” Narcissa asked, and she sounded quite worried, “it’s not the death eaters, is it?"

“God no,” Aunt Hermione said, “No, the death eaters are done for good now. The aurors managed to arrest the attacker, and he’s claiming to be apart of...The Dark Order,” 

A silence met her words and Lily glanced sideways at Fred and Rose, both of whom were wearing the exact same expression: eyes wide and mouths hanging open. Teddy looked ever so slightly confused and Lily realised that he probably didn’t know as much about the Dark Order as the others did. 

“Seriously?” George asked, a hint of panic in his voice, “I thought they were stamped out fifteen years ago?”

“Apparently not,” Aunt Hermione said grimly, “I don’t think they’re as much of a threat as they were after the war, though,” 

“Do you really believe that, Hermione?” Uncle Harry asked, “or are you just like every other Minister for Magic and lying?”

“Of course I’m not lying, Harry,” Aunt Hermione said, “when I took office, I promised you that I would never be like Fudge or Scrimgeour, and I stand by that promise. If I think that it's getting bad again, I swear I’ll let everyone know,” 

“Are you going to need us to go back to the Auror office?” Uncle Ron asked resignedly. 

“No,” Lydia said sharply, “I don’t care what happens, you two are  _ not _ going back working there!”

“I agree,” Molly said, “you both hated it,” 

“But if we need to fight again-”

“You aren’t fighting anyone again,” Hermione snapped, “First of all, we aren’t going to be apart of any war! Second of all, if, and this will  _ not  _ happen, but if we did have to go to war, I wouldn’t be using civilians as soldiers again! There would be no Dumbledore’s Army and no Order of the Phoenix! Too many people innocent people died last time and I’m not putting any of us through that again!”

Lily heard Uncle Harry sigh, “but-”

“There is no but Harry!” Aunt Hermione exclaimed, “think about how old we were last time and think about how old our kids are now! Do you want the ones who are still at school to start another Dumbledore’s army? Do you want James and Ruby to give up their career for the Order of the Phoenix? Do you want Teddy to have to go and mix with the underground Werewolves? Do you want  _ any  _ of that to happen? Because I don’t feel like sending my kids off to war! We  _ had  _ to fight, we had no choice! But they did!”

“She’s right,” George said, “I don’t have it in me to fight another war and I don’t want my kids having to do it, either,” 

“Yeah,” Lydia agreed, “and this time if I die, I’m actually dead so...”

“You wouldn’t be doing anything that could result in your death anyway, Lyds,” Aunt Hermione said, “none of us are,” she sighed, “but can we talk about something else? I’m fed up of work...”

Lily yanked the Extendable Ear out of her own ear and turned to her cousins. 

“Something's going on,” 

“They arrested the guy who did and they know what organisation they’re apart of,” Teddy said, “I think we’ll be fine,” 

Lily shook her head and quickly told the story about the man who had approached her in Hogsmeade. Somehow, she had convinced herself that he was connected to the attacks. 

“I think that's just coincidental,” Fred said, “Weird, but coincidental,” 

“Anyway, it’s like mum said...we’re not going to be fighting in a war, so it’s not anything to worry about,” Rose said confidently, “lets just go to bed. Uncle Draco is muttering about being gay passive aggressively and I think someone might start an argument,”

They weren’t even halfway up the stairs when they heard raised voices. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to upload, I've been really busy these last few days! 
> 
> It's also really weird to write about christmas when its not christmas lol. 
> 
> Anyway, thank-you for reading!


	21. The New Years Adress

In the corner of the Slytherin common room, the usually forgotten about radio crackled to life and Lily leapt across the room towards it, dragging Alex, Hugo, Louis and Hannah with her. The rest of Slytherin house slowly walked towards it in a tense manner, waiting for the Ministers New Years address, a speech that was usually ignored by most of Hogwarts. 

“First of all, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that, if you celebrated it, you had a lovely Christmas surrounded by your family and friends,” Aunt Hermione’s voice crackled through the speaker, sounding tense and not at all like it usually did, “Of course, I know for many of you, especially those of us who have muggle parentage, Christmas festivities may have been plagued with fear after a twenty year old man was attacked in Yorkshire. 

“I am pleased to announce that the perpetrator was apprehended by two Aurors and taken into custody. I am afraid that I cannot disclose any more information at the moment as the trail has yet to take place, but I will be more than happy to do so once the trail is over. Does anyone have any questions?”

There was a flurry of noise as all the reporters tried to ask the question at once. 

“One at a time, please!” Aunt Hermione said, “I can’t listen to you all at once!”

“Minister, do you think that there’s going to be another war?”

“No,” Aunt Hermione replied, her voice sounding further, “and I would also ask that you stop writing that a third war is going to breakout in your column every week. You’re spreading false information and it is unhelpful for everyone,” 

“Who is behind these attacks? Do you even know?” Another reporter asked. 

“Like I said, I can’t disclose any information before-”

“After you took office, you said that you would be truthful and honest when speaking to the country, or was that a lie?”

“I think you will find that in my three and a half years as Minister for Magic, I have never been anything  _ but  _ truthful and honest,” Aunt Hermione said testily, “I cannot disclose any information  _ by law _ . What I’m inferring from your question, however, is that you think the Death Eaters are behind it, is that true?”

“Yes,” the reporter replied, somewhat angrily, “I think we have a right to know if the Death Eaters are back!”

There was a murmur of agreement and Lily had to bite her tongue to not tell everyone in the room that it was actually the Dark Order. She glanced sideways at Hugo who was staring at the ground, his head in his hands. 

“The Death Eaters are _ not _ back,” Aunt Hermione said, speaking clearly, “because as dim as they are, even they know that they would not win in any war after losing the last two,” 

“Do you not think that it’s a bit dangerous, having Draco Malfoy as Head Healer at St Mungo’s and having him so close to your family, Minister?” 

“Dickhead...” Hugo muttered, “what's Uncle Draco got to do with anything?”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but I’m here as Minister for Magic to talk about what’s going on in the country. I am not here to talk about my personal life,” Aunt Hermione said testily, “all I will say on the subject, however, is that Draco Malfoy is a fantastic friend to me, a fantastic husband to Harry Potter, a loving father to his two children and a great Uncle to my children. He is no more a death eater than I am. 

“That’s all I have time for today. The trial will be open to the public-”

Smithy, a burly sixth year who was closest to the radio switched it off and turned to the group at large, folding his arms and looking thoughtful. 

“Right then,” he said, “Theories?”

“Theories on what?” Alex asked, “Honestly, Smithy, there are no theories. Someone attacked more muggleborns. There’s not that much more to it, is there?”

“You say that, Alex, but there’s something going on!” he said, “that's the second attack!”

“Maybe it’s a copycat attack,” Dominique suggested. 

“A what?” Hannah asked. 

“A copycat attack,” Dominique repeated, “it happens all the time; one dickhead does something and gets some notoriety and then someone else wants to get in on the action. It’s what Aunt Herm - the Minister isn’t telling us the name of the person who’s doing it or showing their face,” 

“That’s all well and good, Weasley, but it doesn’t change the fact that the first person who did it got away,” Smithy said. 

“We don’t know if it was the same person twice,” Dominique said thoughtfully, “and the trial hasn’t even been held yet. Who knows what they’re going to confess?”

“No one really thinks there's going to be another, do they?” Molly asked anxiously. 

“Obviously not,” Hugo said gently, putting his arm around her, “you heard what my mum said-”

“Your mum was also dancing around the subject of war, wasn’t she?” a Gryffindor snapped, “she’s as fake as every other politician!”

Hugo opened his mouth to reply, but someone beat him to it. 

“That’s not true,” The Bloody Idiot said, “she’s the best Minister we’ve had in years and everyone knows it,” 

“Since when did you take an interest in politics, Oakes?” Smithy asked. 

“Since my Great-Grandad made it illegal to discriminate against people because they didn’t have Pureblood,” he replied, “and I think that it might have been your Great-Grandad who fought back against that?”

“I suddenly don’t know which one I’m rooting for,” Hannah whispered to Lily, looking between Smithy and The Bloody Idiot, both of whom were wearing looks of equal hatred. 

“It doesn’t really matter who's Great-Grandad did what,” Louis said quickly as Smithy reached for his wand, “what matters is that it isn’t the Death Eaters and that there isn’t going to be another war,”

“We don’t really know if either of those things are true or not,” someone pointed out. 

“You heard what Professor Potter said, it isn’t the Death Eaters,” someone said impatiently, “if it was the Death Eaters, then they would have conjured their mark-thingy,”

“It could all be a cover up,” Smithy pointed out, “so that we don’t start to panic,” 

“It’s not a cover up!” Dominique snapped, “if it were the death eaters, then Aunt Hermione would have been open and honest about it!”

“Oh, because  _ Aunt Hermione  _ is open and honest about everything and anything, is she?” Smithy said, “ _ Aunt Hermione  _ just said that Draco Malfoy isn’t a Death Eater! Even though I’m  _ quite _ sure that he tried to kill Dumbledore when he was my age!”

“Do you really think that Harry Potter would marry a Death Eater?” Lily asked quietly, “or do you think that a Death Eater would even  _ want  _ to marry Harry Potter?”

“Probably not,” Smithy said, “but how do we know that he’s not just been biding his time? Waiting for the right moment to strike?”

“Because he’s our Uncle,” Louis snapped, “and I’m quite sure that we know him better than you do,” 

“And no one would give up their entire life just to attack a couple of people,” Hannah said, “I mean, how long have they been married now? Since what...2002? 2003? They’ve had two kids together. There’s no way!”

“ _ And  _ I also think we’re forgetting the fact that, as my mum pointed out, if there are any remaining Death Eaters, they know that they wouldn’t be able to win a third war, or probably even build up an army!” Hugo said, “and even if there were some Death Eaters left, Draco Malfoy is not one of them,”

“Mate, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want him to be a Death Eater! I like Professor Potter! He’s a sick teacher and all that, but I’m allowed to have an opinion,” Smithy said, holding up his hands. 

“I think you’ve been hit by one too many Beaters over the years,” Hannah said. 

“Maybe I wouldn’t get hit so much if you did your job, properly,” Smithy shot back. 

“See, the problem with that is because you have such a big head, you’re a really easy target,” 

“Fuck off, Cherrie,” 

“I’m going for a bath,” Lily muttered to Hannah, feeling a headache slowly creeping up on her. 

“I’m going to try and think of the best way to curse Smithy,” Hannah whispered back. 

Knowing that she was being completely serious and not wanting to be around when the inevitable fight broke out, Lily quickly hurried from the room. She actually had no intention of going for a bath, but wanted to get as far away from the common room as possible so she could use the stone. They had only been back at school for one night, and Lily was already ready for another break. All this talk about a war breaking out was not helping matters either, and he still couldn’t stop thinking about the man in Hogsmeade...

Feeling as though she was far enough away where no one would find her, Lily slid into a broom cupboard, settled down on a upturned bucket and turned the stone over in her hands. She shielded her eyes as the bright light filled the tiny space and then looked up at her smiling family, immediately feeling calmer. 

“Sorry I didn’t use the Stone over Christmas, it wasn’t...it wasn’t the greatest Christmas,” 

“We have no concept of time, it makes no difference to us!” Sirius said brightly. 

“What happened over Christmas?” Remus asked hurriedly, “is everything OK?”

“Depends what you mean by ‘OK’,” Lily sighed, “there was...there was another attack! And even though Aunt Hermione said that it wasn’t the Death Eaters, I don’t think anyone believes her! And people are starting to blame Uncle Draco again!”

“Blame him for what?” Fred asked, “the attacks?”

“Someone in Slytherin thinks that his entire relationship with Uncle Harry is fake and that it’s just a cover so that he can go and attack Muggleborns without people finding out,” 

There was silence for a moment and then everyone burst into laughter, taking Lily by surprise. 

“This isn’t - this isn’t funny!” she exclaimed. 

“I know, dear, I know,” Lily Potter giggled, wiping her eyes, “but that really is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” 

“This coming from the woman who’s married to Prongs...” Sirius muttered. 

“No one is going to believe that,” Lily Potter said soothingly whilst James stuck his middle finger up at Sirius, “people just panic when things like this happen, but I’m sure that it’ll all eventually blow over and nothing will ever come of it,”

“I’m not sure about that, actually,” Lily said, putting her head in her hands. 

“What makes you say that?” Remus asked. 

“We, uh, we listened in on Aunt Hermione’s conversation with everyone else after she got back from work and, uh, she said that the Dark Order are behind it,” 

“The  _ who _ ?” Fred asked. 

“They attacked my mum and dad on their honeymoon and then did the same at a Quidditch match my mum was playing in,” Lily said, “and apparently they’re back,” 

“Who’s the leader of this Dark Order?” Sirius asked, “do we know him?”

“Or her,” Lily Potter interjected. 

“No,” Lily said, shrugging, “No. Aunt Hermione said they’re not as much of a threat as they were after the war ended,” 

“If there's no known leader then they’d struggle to fight a war,” James said, “I mean, think about it - we knew that it was Voldemort we had to kill the last two times, didn’t we? And before him, they knew that it was Grindemauld they had to-”

“Sorry,” Remus interrupted, “Before Voldemort there was who, exactly?”

“Grindemauld,” James repeated, “and you’re meant to be the clever one!”

“Grindelwald, James, Grindelwald,” Lily whispered. 

“Well my point still stands!” James said, speaking louder, “all these attacks are obviously just being done by people who have no lives. There’s no Voldemort and there’s no Grindelwald,” 

“Grinedemauld,” Sirius muttered. 

“You’re probably right,” Lily sighed, looking down at her watch and jumping when she saw the time, “oh, I should get back before curfew,”

“Don’t worry too much,” Fred said, “I’m sure everything will be fine,” 

“Yeah,” Lily muttered, “Everything will be fine. See you,” 

When she dropped the stone back into her pocket and the broom cupboard was bathed in darkness, she was struck with how alone she really felt. 

\---

Lily and Hugo had yet to tell Hannah, Alex or Louis about what they found out about the Dark Order over Christmas. The three of them were all in varying states of panic and Lily did not feel like being responsible for being the cause of so many panic attacks. Instead, they just kept it to themselves and didn’t even talk about it to each other, though it was all that Lily could think about. Whenever she walked through the corridors and caught snippets of conversations about the attacks, she wondered how many of these people had, like her, thought about what would happen if a war broke out again. There were very few students at Hogwarts who didn’t have a family member who fought or died in the second wizarding war, and she had the strangest feeling that most of them would be ready to step up to the plate should they ever have to.

But Lily just wanted to know more information. The trial had been pushed back another two days because of security risks, and it was making Lily even more nervous. She needed to know if this man was indeed a part of the Dark Order, because she was suddenly more than convinced that she had already met a member of the group. 

One morning, whilst Lily and Hugo sat in the Quidditch stands and watched the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams play a friendly match, she casually brought up the man she had met in Hogsmeade. 

“Jesus Christ, are you still going on about him?” Hugo muttered, pulling his cloak tighter around him as a bitter wind blew through the grounds. 

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Lily asked. 

“How you keep on bringing him up? Yeah,” 

Lily rolled her eyes. 

“No, I mean don’t you think it’s weird how he  _ knew  _ who my mum was?”

“To be fair Lils, you look  _ exactly  _ like her just without-”

“Without the scar, yes, I know,” she said impatiently, “I just think that it’s weird, that's all. I mean, it’s weird how this weirdo pops up of nowhere and then these attacks happen!”

“Maybe he was just genuinely lost and was asking-”

“No, Hugo!” Lily snapped impatiently, “No! You didn’t meet him! He was a weirdo  _ and  _ he spoke to Louis as well! Who gets lost twice?”

“Fine,” Hugo groaned, “we can go to the library and get some old papers and - hey! Where are you going?”

“To the library,” she said, tugging on his arm and trying to get up. 

“N-now? But the match!”

Lily rolled his eyes at him, “Please, you’re going to have more opportunities to stare at David Addington-Oakes from afar,”

“I was n-not - I didn’t - I’m n-not - Lily! God, you’re so fucking annoying at times!”

He grumbled under his breath the entire time that they were walking to the library but only shut up when Madam Pince stood at the end of the bookcase they were stood near, glaring. When Lily asked her to see old copies of the Daily Prophet from just after the war, she stared at her suspiciously but disappeared into the archives anyway. Minutes later, she came back with her arms full of old newspapers, still staring suspiciously. 

“Thank-you, ma’am,” Lily said, taking them off her. 

“Don’t rip them, whatever you do,” she snapped. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Hugo muttered as they left the library and found an empty classroom, “I’m pretty sure the last time we went through old newspapers, everything went wrong,” he added when they sat down. 

“Whatever,” Lily said, “We’re not looking for things about our parents, anyway. We’re looking for things about the Dark Order,” 

“Who tried to kill our parents,” Hugo pointed out. 

“Whatever,” Lily repeated, pulling the papers closer to her, “just look for something interesting,”

“Does a flying Porlock that was sighted three times on the 7th November 2001 count as something interesting?”

“Hugo. Focus,” 

“Sorry,”

Annoyingly, there was nothing very interesting in any of the papers. The most interesting things that they came across was articles about their parents weddings and articles announcing their births, but that was it. There was barely anything written about the Dark Order and it made Lily want to tear up all the papers, but she didn’t feel like dealing with the wrath of Madam Pomfrey. 

“GOT SOMETHING!” Hugo yelled. 

“Don’t yell about it!” Lily snapped. 

“Sorry,” he said, pushing the paper towards her, “but listen,” and he began to read outloud. 

**_“SHOCK AS DARK WIZARDS ATTACK PUDDLEMERE UNITED AND TUTSHILL TORNADOS MATCH_ **

_ Quidditch supporters were left in shock yesterday after Dark Wizards, claiming to be apart of the group called “The Dark Order” attacked the Quidditch match. Just as Puddlemere United chaser Meadows went to catch the Golden Snitch and bring the already long match to an end, robed wizards poured on the pitch, shooting of Killing Curses left, right and centre.  _

_ Immediately, pandemonium ensued as terrified supporters tried to find cover and the players hastened to run to the tunnel to get out of the way. The so called “Dark Order”, however, only seemed to have eyes for Lydia Weasley. One of them immediately walked towards her and she reacted it a way that is generally frowned upon - with Dark Magic. She was saved of having to perform anymore Dark Magic by her brother, who has just been appointed as an Auror, who arrived with other Aurors-” _

“Shitting hell!” Lydia exclaimed, glancing down at the paper for the first time and seeing a picture of a man, “that's the - that's the man who came up to me in Hogsmeade!”

Hugo looked closer at the paper, “and that's the man who went to attack your mum...” 

“I told you there was something more to it!” Lily exclaimed. 

“Well, shit...” Hugo muttered, “You were right,” 

They walked back to the Quidditch pitch in silence and were shocked to find the match still going on. Lily could not understand why they were taking a friendly match so seriously, but it at least gave Hannah something other to do then quizzing Hugo about his love life. 

“Um, Lily,” Hugo said, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the stands, “what you said before, about Addington-Oakes, I-”

“Forget it, Hugo,” Lily said quickly, “whatever's going on, it’s none of my business. Talk about it when you’re ready, yeah?”

Hugo smiled at her, “Cheers, Lils,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Updating quickly? Who would have thought?
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! 
> 
> -E.


	22. More Trials and More Tribulations

The Trial of the member of the Dark Order was only days away, and it was all that anyone seemed to want to talk about. It was impossible to walk through the corridors without hearing about someone’s conspiracy theory about how Draco Malfoy was most definitely behind all the attacks and that he had placed the entire Potter-Weasley family under the Imperius Curse. And even though Lily was more than aware of the fact that none of this was true, whenever she heard someone say it, she felt a stab of anger that made her want to punch someone. And things only got worse when the Daily Prophet published an article titled, “ _ Draco Malfoy: Is the Head Healer and Husband of Harry Potter Really As Innocent as The Minister Wants us To Believe?”  _

When Lily wasn’t worrying about the Dark Order, she was worrying about her Uncle Harry and how he felt about all the article. However, when she went to the first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson after it had been published, he seemed completely fine and not at all worried. He just taught his lesson as he usually would and did not even flinch when the inevitable happened and people began asking questions. Though, it was a sign of how serious the situation was that even Hugo did not ask a single question for the first half hour of the lesson. 

"Sir, can I ask you a question?” one of David Addington-Oakes’ friends, Simon Parkinson, asked. 

“No, my husband isn’t a death eater,” Uncle Harry replied, without even turning away from the blackboard that he was writing on. 

“Oh,” Simon said, clearly embarrassed, “Okay. Sorry, I was just-”

“No need to apologise, Simon. You’re not the first person to ask, and you most certainly will not be the last,” 

“Right,” Simon said, “It’s just because the article said that you’re under the Imperius Curse,” 

Uncle Harry turned around to face the class and actually laughed, taking everyone by surprise. Lily had thought that Simon had landed himself in detention with that last comment, but Harry seemed genuinely amused. 

“I’m not under the Imperius Curse,” 

“Wait, but how did you know?” Hugo blurted out, “Sorry, I  _ obviously  _ don’t think that it’s true because that would mean that I’m under it as well but...how do you know? I thought the point of it was that you didn’t know that you were under it?”

Uncle Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. 

“That’s a good point,” he said, “and that is the...idea of the Imperius Curse, but it doesn’t always go that way,”

“What do you mean?” Hugo asked. 

“Well,” Harry said, “When someone is put under the Imperius Curse, there is an overpowering voice telling them to, say...jump out of the window, and most people will do exactly that - jump out of the window. When I was placed under the Imperius Curse, however, there was a voice in my head telling me to not do the thing that I was being told to do, because it was stupid. So if my husband was indeed behind all these attacks, I do believe that there would be a voice in my head pointing out that letting him do all this, would be rather stupid,” he paused for a moment, “And even  _ I’m  _ not unlucky enough to marry and have a family with a death eater,”

“How often have you been put under the Imperius Curse?” Addington-Oakes asked. 

“Twice,” Harry said, “Once by a death eater pretending to be my Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and then by Lord Voldemort. If there were any other times, I’ve forgotten,” 

“A death eater pretending to be your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?” Simon asked, shocked. 

“Did your mum never tell you about that?” Uncle Harry asked, bemused. “Yeah, that was a weird year,” He paused for a moment deep in thought and then shrugged, “my entire time at Hogwarts was weird. Anyway, back to Shield Charms, they really aren’t as complicated as people make them out to be...”

Once Harry had set them some work, Lily turned around to Hugo and lowered her voice so that the others wouldn’t hear. 

“You aren’t panicking, are you?” she asked quietly. 

“I’m always in some state of panic,” he said casually. 

“You know what I mean,” 

He glanced up at Uncle Harry and then back over at her and shrugged his shoulders. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “I really don’t know. Part of me thinks that we don’t have anything to worry about because we aren’t muggle born, but we’re also not Pureblood, are we?  _ And  _ even if we were Pureblood, we’d still have to worry because of who our parents are,” 

“All I got from that is that we should be panicking,” Lily muttered. 

“No, we shouldn’t!” Hugo said hurriedly, “No. My mum’ll sort it out. She always does,” 

“Yeah,” Lily agreed, “Yeah. She always does,” they were silent for a few moments and then Lily turned back to her cousin, “Just another thing...when Alex fell off his broom and he felt something hit him-”

“For the first time in my life, I’m going to admit that I was wrong because I didn’t think it was weird,” Hugo said, “it was slightly weird. Something hit him in the back. It could have been the Dark Order... could have been something less sinister,” he added quickly. 

Lily was momentarily vindicated for she knew that she had not been worrying about nothing, but that vindication was soon replaced with fear. Part of her hoped that she and Hugo were just overthinking everything, but she knew that, deep down, they weren’t. Hugo had always been the more rational one out of the two of them, so if he was panicking about something, then they all should have been panicking about something. 

“It’ll be fine,” Lily said, “like you said...your mum will sort it out,” 

“She always does,” 

“She always does,” Lily muttered, pulling her parchment to her and trying not to think about the things that she had never gotten around to actually sorting out. 

The bell signalling the end of the lesson had barely rang before Uncle Harry shouted for Lily and Hugo to remain seated. Feeling as though she stayed behind in his class too much, Lily sighed and pushed all her things into her bag, wondering what on earth he could need to talk to them about. Though, as she thought about it, she felt as though she had a relatively good idea of why he was looking so anxious. 

When the last person had left and shut the door behind them, Harry slowly walked over to them and leant against the desk in front of theirs, folding his arms. 

“Are you two OK?” he asked. 

“We won’t be if we miss lunch,” Hugo said, glancing over at the clock on the wall. 

Harry rolled his eyes at him, “Hugo, I’m being serious. That article about Uncle Draco-”

“It’s fine,” Lily said, “We don’t believe it. We know he isn’t a death eater,” 

Harry nodded and smiled slightly, “Okay. I’m just making sure. I know what it’s like to be in school and have articles written about you, and it’s not fun. In fact, I was your age when Rita Skeeter started writing about me and Aunt Lydia for the first time,”

“You know Rita Skeeter has another column in the Daily Prophet?” Hugo said. 

“ _ What _ ?” Uncle Harry asked, “how do you know? Your mum stopped her from writing years ago!”

“She did, but apparently there's a Statute of Limitations on these things,” Hugo shrugged, “and then Skeeter said that if my mum stopped her from writing, then it was an infringement of her free speech and the Minister for Magic can’t really argue against free speech, can she?”

“Cornelius Fudge did,” Uncle Harry muttered. Then he groaned, “how do you even know this?”

“I made the mistake of Floo’ing her last night without reading the Daily Prophet to see what sort of state the country is in,” Hugo shrugged, “and she’d just gotten home from work and was quite stressed,”

“Rita Skeeter wouldn’t still write horrible stuff about us though, would she?” Lily asked, “after all the trouble she got in last time?”

“Rita Skeeter thrives of controversy,” Uncle Harry told her, “I can guarantee that after this trial, she’s going to write something awful,” 

“On a happier note, my dad did also tell me that Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes is expanding overseas to America!” Hugo said cheerfully, “but no one is allowed to know, so...”

“Great!” Uncle Harry exclaimed, clapping his hands together, “See, there’s still good things in the world so there’s nothing we need to worry about! You can go and get your dinner now...”

Once they had left the classroom and were walking over to the Great Hall, Hugo turned to Lily. 

“He’s panicking,” 

“What?” Lily asked, “he didn’t look worried at all,” 

“After I mentioned the shop going to America, he said, “there’s still good things in the world so there’s nothing we need to worry about,” 

“And?”

“At no point did either of us say that we were worried or say that we didn’t think there were good things in the world anymore,” Hugo said, “he’s panicking,”

“Great,” Lily muttered when they walked into the Great Hall and spotted Hannah, Alex and Louis sat halfway down the  Slytherin table, “now _ I’m  _ panicking,” 

\---

“The trials starting!” Smithy yelled on Saturday morning. 

At once, the entire common gathered around the tiny radio. Lily’s sank to her knees on the floor besides Alex, Hugo, Hannah and Louis. Smithy was actually the only person in the entire room who didn’t look as nervous as everyone else did. 

“Hearing on January the nineteenth, twenty twenty three. Leonis Bernard Corvus, you are accused of the attacks of three muggle born Witches and Wizards on two separate occasions: Sally Leftwood, Sophia Lorenzo and Maxwell Brightman. Interrogator: Hermione Jean Granger-Weasley, Minister for Magic,” 

“She sounds pissed off,” someone whispered. 

“Can you blame her?” Dominique asked quietly, before shushing everyone again. 

“The attacks on Miss Leftwood and Mrs Lorenzo took place just before Christmas...can you account for where you were on the second of October last year?”

There was a silence for a few moments and Lily didn’t think that Corvus was going to reply to Aunt Hermione, but then a strangely familiar voice floated through the speakers and seemed to fill the entire common room. Next to her, Louis actually shivered. 

“I believe I was in Hogsmeade...meeting some friends,” his voice was disturbingly pleasant, and sounding rather like he was just catching up with an old friend he had not seen for a while. 

“Hogsmeade, you say?” Aunt Hermione replied, “That is where the attacks took place. Was that the only day you were at Hogsmeade, or did you stay overnight?”

“I arrived on Halloween,” Corvus replied, and Lily could actually hear the smile in his voice, “there’s people who can account for that...”

“What day did you leave?” Aunt Hermione asked, her voice cold. 

“The fourth of October, I believe,” Corpus replied, “or it might have been the fifth. I can’t quite remember,” 

“You need to provide information that you are almost certain is right, Mr Corvus,” Aunt Hermione said, “unless you’re trying to throw the Ministry of your scent?”

“Now, why would I do that?” Corvus asked. 

“I don’t like him,” Hannah whispered. 

“I don’t think you’re meant to,” Hugo whispered back, staring at the radio with wide eyes. 

There was the sound of papers shuffling and then Aunt Hermione cleared her throat again.

“And where, may I ask, are you from? You don’t sound local to London,” 

“I’m not,” Corvus replied, “I’m from Yorkshire,” 

“So it would make sense for you to be in the North on Christmas Eve when the second attack against Mr Brightman took place?” 

“Well, yes, I suppose it would,” Corvus replied, “Only I was further north this Christmas up in Scotland,”

“In Scotland?” Aunt Hermione asked, “Can I ask what you were doing there? Do you have family or friends living in Scotland?”

“No,” he replied, “I just like the scenery...especially the Scottish Highlands...”

“Hogwarts!” someone behind Lily said, “he was near Hogwarts!”

Lily glanced sideways at Louis whose mouth was hanging open. He turned to face her, his eyes wide, “That's the...that's the man!”

She did not reply to him but simple nodded and shushed him, not wanting to miss a moment of this trial. 

“The Highlands, you say?” Aunt Hermione asked. 

“Is that a problem, Minister?”

“Not at all, Mr Corvus,” she replied, her voice not wavering, “I do find it odd, however, that you would spend time in Scotland alone during the Christmas Season. Where exactly was it that you stayed?”

“Hogsmeade, Ma’am. In the Hogs Head Inn,” 

“Close to Hogwarts,” Aunt Hermione said simply. 

“Why, yes, I suppose it is,” Corvus replied, “I must admit Hogsmeade at Christmas Time is one of my favourite places to be...seeing all the school kids, it reminds me of my own time in school,” 

“Mhmm...” Aunt Hermione, “and you left school two years before I started, if I’m not mistaken...and in that time you weren’t exactly a model student, were you?”

“Well, we can’t all be like you, Minister, can we? How many NEWTs do you have, again?”

“Mr Corvus do I have to remind you that you are the one on trial, not me?” Aunt Hermione said calmly, “You were suspended on two occasions for discriminating against students who were not Pureblooded like yourself...once in your third year and then again in your fifth. Is this correct?”

“Quite correct, Minister,” Corvus said, and Lily was disgusted to hear a note of pride in his voice. 

“And you’ve been arrested once before, haven't you? For connections to the Dark Order-”

“Let’s just cut to the chase, Minister,” Corvus said, interrupting her, “I attacked Lydia Potter on her honeymoon, and then again when she was playing Quidditch. And then I attacked those three Mudbloods because your kind shouldn’t be allowed to roam free, and they  _ certainly  _ shouldn’t be able to hold positions of power,”

“Oh, my god...” Alex muttered.

“And I’m not stopping here,” Corvus continued, “You’re next, Madam Minister. As are your kids! And your nieces and nephews! I hope the Children who Lived taught their kids how to walk through life looking over their shoulder, because we’re coming for them!”

“Court adjourned!” Aunt Hermione exclaimed, and it was the first time her voice wavered, “We will recommence the trial next week!”

The radio shut off after this and an awful silence fell across the common room, all eyes on Lily, Dominique, Louis and Hugo.Louis jumped up at once and hurried over to Dominique, who was staring at the radio as though she wasn't quite sure if it existed or not.  Unsure of what else to do, Lily slowly stood up and dragged Hugo with her, who looked as though he had been hit over the head with a Bludger.

“My mum didn’t sort it out...” Hugo whispered. 

“No,” Lily said, “No. She didn’t...”

“I think I’m having a panic attack,” 

“I know the feeling,” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!
> 
> -E.


	23. A Mother's Love

Lily felt as though the common room was closing in on her. She was horribly aware of the amount of pairs of eyes that were on her, and the fact that Hannah was talking to her in a way that suggested that her best friend was already thinking about attending her funeral. Hugo was stood next to her, his eyes flickering between her and the radio, as though one would offer him words of comfort. The fact that he had not started asking questions made Lily feel even worse. Lily’s eyes sought out Dominique, hoping that she would be able to say something rational like she usually did, but she rather looked as though she had been stunned a few too many times and as though she was not going to speak any time soon. 

She felt her heart begin to race uncontrollably in her chest and she found that she couldn’t breathe properly. Feeling as though she was seconds away from collapsing, Lily reached out for Hannah’s hand, gripping onto it as tightly as possible as she squeezed her eyes shut and began to count to ten over and over again in her head. 

“Lils, Lils, hey, look at me,” Hannah said quietly, nudging her, “Look at me. Lily, you’re going to be fine,” 

“I know, I’m fine,” Lily said, looking up at her and opening her eyes, “everything’s gonna be fine,” 

“I’m confused,” Smithy said loudly, “why would they want to go after you lot?” 

“To get to our parents, obviously,” Hugo snapped, though his voice was shaking. 

“But they said they aren’t death eaters. Only death eaters care about your parents,”

“How am I meant to fucking know, Smithy?” Hugo yelled, whirling around to face him. 

Smithy jerked backwards, holding his hands up, “Woah, chill, Granger. It was just a question-”

“Don’t ask me stupid questions when I just found out that I’m probably going to me murdered by some raving lunat-”

“Hugo, mate, chill out,” a small voice said from the corner of the room. Lily glanced over to see David Addington-Oakes, “No one is going to murder you.Your mum will sort it out,” 

Hugo opened his mouth to retaliate but then closed it again. Instead, he dropped down onto a couch, his head in his hands. Alex scrambled up off the floor and sat next to him. He looked unsure of what to do for a moment before tentatively putting his arm around Hugo’s shoulder, only relaxing when he didn’t shove him away. They had long since decided that, apart from Hannah, Hugo was the worst person in the world to be around when he was in a bad mood; he had the tendency to not speak for days on end and push everyone away from him. A trait Lily was quite sure he had inherited off Hermione. 

“Has a third war just been declared?” Simon Parkinson asked in a small voice. 

“No,” Dominique said, and Lily was thrilled to hear that her voice wasn’t shaking, “No. Corvus never said that. He’s only going - he’s only going after us,” 

“Can I remind you that the last two times someone went after the Potters, a war broke out,” Smithy said. 

“Is your only purpose here to make everyone panic?” Dominique snapped. 

“No, I’m just pointing out the obvious!” he exclaimed, “who knows maybe Lydia Potter will have to go and get herself killed again to-”

“Don’t say that!” Lily exclaimed, “she isn’t going to have to go and do that!”

Smithy actually looked ashamed of himself, “Sorry, Weasley. I forgot she was your mum,”

“Everything is going to be fine,” Hannah said confidently, “We’re probably just being overdramatic,” at the exact moment she said this, the door burst open and every one screamed; Hannah grabbed Lily and shoved her away from the door, whilst Dominique and Louis forced down behind a couch. Alex had thrown himself over Hugo and was trying to hide him with a cushion, but it was only a very flustered Uncle Harry, almost keeled over and gasping for breath. 

“Christ...” he muttered, “so out of a shape...” he gripped onto Simon Parkinson's shoulder for a few moments before looking up, his eyes scanning the room, “I need...I need every single one of my nieces and nephews to come with me,” he paused for a minute, “Now,” 

Lily did not need telling twice. She tried to smile reassuringly at Hannah and then dragged Hugo up, following Dominique, Louis and Uncle Harry out of the room, well aware of the fact that once the door swung shut behind them, everyone would begin speaking about them at once. They reached the end of the corridor and then Uncle Harry turned to face them, looking grave. 

“Did you listen to the trial?” 

“Yeah,” Dominique said, “Yeah, we did,”

Uncle Harry nodded, “I know it’s scary, but you’re all going to be fine,” 

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Hugo muttered, and Lily was relieved to hear him speak. It at least meant that he wouldn’t start pushing people away. 

“I know,” Uncle Harry said soothingly, putting his arm around him and carrying on walking, “but this’ll probably be over before you know it,” 

“Where are we going?” Louis asked. 

“Professor McGonagall's office,” Uncle Harry said, “Hermione called the entire family there,” 

“Every single one of us?” Dominique asked. 

“Not _ all  _ of us...Lydia, George, Percy, Ron, Bill, Charlie, Ginny, Grandma, Grandad, Draco, Teddy, Fred, Rose, Ruby-”

“Pretty sure that’s most of us,” Louis muttered, “it must be serious if Aunt Ginny has come all the way from France,”

“We’re all going to be fine,” Uncle Harry said firmly, “I promise,” 

Things, however, could not have seemed less fine in Professor McGonagall’s office. Molly was sat next to her mother, crying quietly and even James had not said anything. George was sat with his head in his hands and Aunt Ginny was gripping onto the back of Grandma Molly’s chair so tightly, her knuckles had gone white. The only source of sound came from Lydia, who seemed to be threatening to kill everyone. 

“Lydia, I can’t believe I have to remind you of this, but you can not threaten to kill people!” Aunt Hermione said sharply.

“Jesus Christ, Hermione!” Lydia exclaimed, “can you take your Minister hat off for a minute? They threatened to kill our kids! We fought in the war so that this wouldn’t happen! I  _ died  _ so that this wouldn’t happen! One of the last things I thought about when I was walking to that damn forest was how thankful I was that at least Teddy would never have to go through this!” she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, “I would do _ anything  _ for my kids,  _ including _ killing someone if they threaten to kill them first!”

Lily glanced over at Teddy who was looking at Lydia with his mouth hanging open slightly. George sighed and slowly put his hand on Teddy’s shoulder, squeezing it slightly. Lily shook her head and turned away from her mum, slowly walking over to where Uncle Charlie was sat and dropped down next to him. He managed to smile at her and it made her feel marginally better. Though she couldn’t help but feel that Smithy was right and that they were going to go into war again. 

Everything he had said was true, the wars always seemed to start and end with the Potters. She looked looked over at Uncle Harry who was sat with Ruby and James, and wondered if he really had it in him to fight another war. And as much as she was shouting about how she would like to very much kill every single member of the Dark Order, Lily highly doubted that even her mother would be able to fight another war. So would that mean it would fall into the hands of the kids? She felt as though James, Rose and Ruby would be able to get by, and probably Teddy and Victoire, but even that felt like hopeful thinking. Dominique was much better at Charms than Defence Against the Dark Arts and Lily knew for a fact that she was not ready to duel. She was quite confident in her stunning ability, but only when it was one of her friends stood very still in a classroom setting and not a Dark Wizard intent on killing her. 

“I’m not having any of my kids fighting anyone,” Lydia said, as though she was reading Lily’s mind, “Just because we had to be child soldiers, doesn’t mean they do,

“Do you really think that I would  _ ever  _ suggest such a thing?” Aunt Hermione asked, “I would rather fight another fifteen wars myself then ever send my children to fight in just one battle,” 

“And Hogwarts is never being used as a battle ground again,” Professor McGonagall said darkly, “it’ll be a long time before I forget what I saw that night...”

Teddy cleared his throat, “Can I just point out that I’m nearly twenty five so I wouldn’t really be a child sold-”

“You’re not fighting anyone, Teddy,” George snapped, “You could barely playfight with Fred, never mind duel an actual Dark Wizard,” 

“Right...” Teddy said quietly, folding his arms, “I’ll shut up then,”

“I want to know if there iz goin’ to be another war,” Aunt Fleur said. 

“There isn’t going to be another war,” Aunt Hermione said firmly. 

“Are you sure about that, ‘Mione?” Aunt Ginny asked, “because the last time a Minister for Magic said that, I’m pretty sure there was another war,” 

“I know that, Gin,” Aunt Hermione sighed, “but I’m not Cornelius Fudge. I’d sooner step down than ever be even  _ slightly  _ like Cornelius Fudge,” 

“That’s another person I’d like to fight...” Lydia muttered, rubbing her left hand. 

“Unhelpful, Lydia,” Aunt Hermione said. 

“It’d be really therapeutic though,” 

“Are you sure you aren’t blinded by the office of the Minister, though?” Uncle Harry asked, “thats what happened to most of them. Even Scrimgeour, and he was meant to be the best thing that ever happened to the Ministry,” 

“Harry, I  _ promised  _ the entire country that I would stamp this sort of thing out, and I am going to, but I’m going to do it without a war,” Aunt Hermione said, “Dwight D. Eisenhower said that war settles nothing. And he's right! We won the last war but at what cost? How many people did we lose? Voldemort was killed and that's great, but it just stirred up even more hatred towards the Children who Lived from the death eaters and twenty five years later, we’re back at square one!”

“Wait, but....mum, you said these weren’t death eaters,” Rose said in a quiet voice, “are they?”

Aunt Hermione sighed, “No. They’re a brand of death eater, though. A group of people who are disappointed at how the first and second wars went and think that the death eaters weren’t cruel enough,”

“Oh,” Bill said, “so they’re worse,” 

“No, because they’ll never have the power that the death eaters had,” McGonagall said, “not as long as I’m alive, anyway,” 

“The Dark Order is a product of the last war in the same way that people like Professor Quirrell, Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch were a product of the first war - they were disappointed with how it all turned out so they tried to bring Voldemort back,” Aunt Hermione explained, “these people are disappointed with how the last war ended but, because they can’t bring Voldemort back, they’re going to try and matters into their own hands,”

“So they’re supporters of Him?” Uncle Harry asked, a note of disgust in his voice. 

“I believe so, yes,” Aunt Hermione said. 

“Kill them,” Uncle Harry said simply, “kill every single one of the fuckers,” 

“Harry!” Uncle Draco exclaimed, “you can’t speak like that!”

“Why not?” Uncle Harry asked, “they’d say exact same thing about me! Kill all of them, I couldn't care less! People like that are the reason that me and Lydia don’t have parents! They’re the reason that Fred is dead, that Teddy doesn’t have Remus and Tonks! Kill them!” 

“Finally, someone speaking sense,” Lydia muttered, sitting down next to Lily and putting her arm around her, “are you ok, love?”

“Fine,” Lily muttered, “gonna be fine,” 

“Harry, you know I can’t just order them to be murdered!” Aunt Hermione exclaimed, “what if some of them are innocent? Like Sirius was?”

Uncle Harry did not say anything and just looked at the floor, running his hands through his hair and looking quite mad. 

Uncle Ron cleared his throat, “surely the best thing to do is to just wait to see what happens next?”

“What, wait for there to be another attack?” Fred asked, “because that seems like the  _ worst  _ idea in the world, Uncle Ron,” 

“Obviously not, Freddie,” Uncle Ron said, “Shouldn’t we just wait to see what happens from the trail next week? He might give other names. The more arrests there are, the more trials, the more names are given,” 

“That does seem like the best way to do it,” Grandad Arthur said, “the less violence, the better,” 

“Agreed,” Aunt Audrey said, “I’ve never fought in a war, and I would much rather keep it that way,”

“We  _ all  _ would,” Uncle Draco said, shuddering, “I would also love it if my families name would stop being dragged through the mud and if people would stop accusing me of using  _ Imperio  _ on my husband!”

“How else are you going to get him to tidy up?” George asked, grinning. When he realised that no one was laughing he sighed and held his hands up, “just trying to diffuse the tension,”

“Believe me, Draco, I don’t like all these rumours about you, either,” Aunt Hermione said miserably, “and I will find a way to squash them. Somehow. Once all this is over, no one is going to think that you’re a death eater or trying to kill everyone in this room,” 

“Dumbledore,” Uncle Harry said suddenly, “Dumbledore. What do you think we should do?”

All eyes turned to the portrait of Professor Dumbledore, who was staring down at them serenely. He did not speak straight away, he just sat with his chin resting upon his long fingers. Lily did not think that he ever going to answer and then-

“I think the Minister is right,” he said, “I was foolish in the Second War and ran into the fight thinking that it would be the best thing to do. It does not escape me that when Voldemort had risen to power for the second time, our options were limited, however, I will be the first to admit that I handled some things...” his eyes traveled to fall on Lydia who was staring at her old headmaster with a stony expression, “...I handled some things foolishly,” 

“So, no war?” Grandma Molly asked. 

“No war,” Dumbledore said, “do not be mistaken: the Dark Order are a threat to both Muggles and Wizards, but they  _ can  _ be stopped before it spirals out of our hands. I have faith that under the leadership of Hermione, this will be sorted out in no time at all,” 

“I’ve always felt that taking advice from a portrait is stupid...” Lydia muttered, rubbing her eyes.

Professor McGonagall nodded and cleared her throat, “Thats that, then. We’re not going to war,” 

“What about the kids?” Bill asked hurriedly, “the ones still in school, are they going to be-”

“Safe? Certainly,” McGonagall said, “though I do think that not allowing them to go to Hogsmeade is our best bet,” 

“Brilliant,” Dominique muttered, “cooped up in this castle for the rest of the year whilst some lunatic is after me. Lucky us,” 

“It’s for the best, Dom,” Victoire said, “You know it is,” 

“What about the rest of us?” Ruby asked, “what if one of them comes to a Quidditch game and-”

“We can’t stop that,” Aunt Hermione said, “but that doesn’t mean we won’t up security at Quidditch matches. I’ll talk to the Department of Magical Games and Sports when I get back to the Ministry,” 

“Oh, god,” Lydia said suddenly, her eyes wide as she looked at Aunt Hermione, “‘Mione, for the love of god, please,  _ please  _ don’t say that you’re going to assign Aurors to each of us for protection,” 

“Sorry, Lyds, but it’s for the best,” 

Lydia groaned loudly, “I can protect myself!”

“When you were seventeen, maybe, but when was the last time you were in a duel? A  _ real  _ duel?” when she didn’t reply, Aunt Hermione smiled triumphantly, “Thank-you for making my point for me,”

“Can me and Ron be assigned a fun Auror so that it’s not bad for business?” George asked hopefully. 

“There’s no such thing as a ‘fun Auror’, George,” Uncle Harry sighed, “I learned that the hard way,”

The moment they were finally able to get out of Professor McGonagall’s office, Lily lied to her cousins and told them that she was going for a shower. The only thing she was really planning on doing was finding the nearest broom cupboard and hoping that the rest of her family wouldn’t make her feel like she was going to be murdered at any given moment. 

“You look worried,” Remus said, by way of greeting. 

“I am,” Lily said, before delving into the whole story. 

“So...there’s people out to kill you?” Fred asked slowly, “and the rest of the family?”

“Yes,” 

“Welcome to my life,” James sighed. 

“See, that’s just really unhelpful because you ended up dead,” Lily snapped. 

“But then I came back to life,” 

“And died. Twice!” 

“You will be fine,” Lily Potter said firmly, “by the sounds of it, Lydia is going to defeat them all single handedly,”

“Which she is  _ definitely  _ capable of,” Fred added. 

“A mothers love stretches further than anything,” Sirius said wisely, “well, not  _ my  _ mother. I don’t think she was capable of love,” 

Lily shook her head, ignoring Sirius,  “but I - I don’t want her to do that. I don’t want any of my family to do that. I don’t want them to fight again and I definitely don’t!”

“And you won't,” Remus said, “Hermione will have learned all the lessons she has had too from the second war. I don’t think she’ll allow any civilians to fight,” 

“Can I ask you a question?” Lily asked suddenly, “What is it like to die?”

Sirius smiled and winked at her, “Quicker and easier than falling asleep,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there going to be another war? Is there not going to be another war? Who knows? (I know, but that's not the point). 
> 
> Also, I don't think I ever intended to write Lydia as constantly wanting to fight people, but I'm really glad I did. 
> 
> Anyway, as always, thank-you for reading!
> 
> -E.


	24. People Like Us

“Jesus, why’s the Minister for Magic here?” someone muttered behind them as they walked into the Great Hall for dinner. 

Hugo turned around so quickly that he almost hit Lily in the face. 

“The Minister for Magic?” he said quickly, looking over the heads of the people in front of him, “not my mum,  _ please  _ don’t be my mum,” 

“How many other Minister for Magics are there?” Alex asked. 

Hugo groaned, “I  _ hate  _ it when she comes into school. All anyone's going to ask me for the next week, everyone's going to be all, “when are  _ you  _ going to be the Minister for Magic, Hugo? Do you want to be the Minister for Magic?” like, no! Fuck off!”

Hannah snorted, “I think you would be a great Minister for Magic. Instead of reporters asking you questions, you’d ask them question,”

“Shut up, Hannah,” Hugo muttered, “hey - Alex! Where are you - where are you going?”

Lily sniggered as Alex began to make his way between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, getting closer and closer to where Aunt Hermione was stood with Uncle Harry. Lily gave Hugo a sad look and tugged on the sleeves of his robes. 

“Come on, there’s no other seats,” 

“I can see a good ten free seats at the end of Slytherin table out of my mums eyesight,” 

“I can’t,” Lily said happily, dragging him over to where Alex, Hannah and Louis had already took their seat. 

“That's because you have shit eyesight,” 

“Hey, Minister!” Hannah said loudly, waving at Aunt Hermione when Hugo sat down. 

“Hello, you lot,” Aunt Hermione said, walking over to them. 

“Why are you here?” Hugo asked, “and I ask that in the nicest way possible,” he quickly added. 

“I came to see Uncle Harry and then thought I’d stay for dinner,” Aunt Hermione replied, “so don’t worry, Hugo, I’m not stalking you. Your Ancient Runes Professor did tell me how well you did in your test yesterday, though. Well done,” 

Hugo grinned, “Thanks, mum!”

Lily looked away. She had not done nearly as well as Hugo had done on her Ancient Runes test and was not entirely sure what had gotten into her. She had done so badly, in fact, that she was quite sure that she was bottom of the class. Professor Florence had put it down to her being worried about the Dark Order, and was not angry about it. Lily was quite sure that she would have just as bad even if there weren’t people out to kill her. 

“How are you all feeling about the trial?” Aunt Hermione asked. 

It had been three days since the trial and it was still all anyone would think about. Lily had lost count of the amount of times that people had come up to her in the corridor and told her that they would go out of their way to protect her if needs be. At first, it was quite nice, but it had very quickly become annoying and there had been numerous occasions where Lily had had to stop herself from snapping that she would much rather have the Dark Order kill her than have to listen to listen to their pompous and self aggrandising speech about how willing of a hero they would be. 

“I just wish people would stop talking about it,” Hugo said, “it’s gotten boring now,” 

Aunt Hermione smiled, “that’s the best way to feel about it all. How’s Molly doing?”

Lily, Hugo and Louis exchanged looks. Molly had been panicking about the Dark Order more than anyone; she was too scared to do anything on her own, which meant that between the three of them, they had been ferrying her around school. When Hugo had asked why she couldn’t walk around with her own friends, she had tearfully admitted that no one wanted to be friends with her anymore because they thought that there being friends would result in them getting killed too. 

“What is it?” Aunt Hermione asked, “where is she, anyway?”

Lily glanced around the room, realising that she had not seen her cousin all day, “I don’t know, actually,”

“In the Hufflepuff common room,” Hugo said, “I went to get her before, but she didn’t want to come to dinner,” 

“She needs to eat something!”

“We’ll get her food from the kitchens later,” Louis said, “i’m sure she’ll be fine,” 

“It’s against the rules to go into the kitchen,” 

Hugo was suddenly overcome with a coughing fit which sounded an awful lot like the name, “SPEW,”. Aunt Hermione merely rolled her eyes and then beckoned Uncle Harry over, who wandered over with a look of apprehension on his face. 

“If Lily’s told you that I haven’t got any lesson plans for the rest year, I-”

“She didn’t say that,” Aunt Hermione said. 

“Oh,” 

“You have  _ none _ ?”

“Now isn’t the time to talk about whether or not I have lesson plans or not,” Uncle Harry said quickly, “but what's the issue? Apart from the Dark Order?”

“Hilarious,” Aunt Hermione said sarcastically, “Molly isn’t here,” 

“Just because she isn’t sat with this lot doesn’t mean that she isn’t in the Hall,” Uncle Harry pointed out, “they all look the same from up here, don’t they?”

“No, Hugo said that she’s in the common room,” Aunt Hermione said. 

“She does have every right to be there, she is a Hufflepuff-”

“No, it’s because she’s scared!” Aunt Hermione hissed, “honestly, Harry, keep up,” 

“I’ll speak to her in class tomorrow,” 

“There is something else,” Lily admitted anxiously, “she won’t have wanted us to tell you this but....no one wants to be friends with her anymore because they think that she’ll get them killed by the Dark Order,”

“Christ on a bike,” Uncle Harry muttered. 

“Well,” Aunt Hermione said briskly, standing up straighter, “we’ll have to go and speak to her. Now,”

“She probably wants to be alone,” Uncle Harry said. 

“Nonsense,” Aunt Hermione said, gesturing for Lily, Hugo and Alex to get up, “she’s  _ scared _ , Harry. The last thing she’ll want to be is alone but she’ll be too afraid to admit it,”

“I am  _ starving _ ,” Hugo muttered. 

“And your little cousin is crying somewhere in her common room,” Uncle Harry said, clapping him on the back, “put everything in perspective, Hugo,” 

On the rare occasions that Lily went into the Hufflepuff common room, she always wondered why she didn’t go in thee more often. She loved the Slytherin common room, but there really wasn’t another room in Hogwarts that was quite as relaxing as the Hufflepuff one. If Lily had known what the inside of the room looked like before she came to Hogwarts, she might have purposely asked to be put in Hufflepuff just so that she had a good enough reason to be there. Though she supposed that common rooms didn’t matter much, anymore so she could go in whenever she wanted. 

It was completely empty apart from two seventh years sat in the corner writing essays and looking quite perplexed at the sudden appearance of the Minister for Magic in their common room. Lily did not blame them for looking so worried. Had she not been who she was, the Minister for Magic paying an unexpected visit to a place she would not usually occupy would be cause for concern, especially with everything that was going on. 

“Have you seen Molly? Molly Weasley?” Uncle Harry asked, “First year. Red hair. Obviously she has red hair, she’s a Weasley,” 

“Hey, we don’t all have red hair!” Hugo and Louis exclaimed at the same time. 

“No,” one of the seventh years replied, “but you could try the dormitories. That’s where she’ll probably be,”

“Thank-you!” Aunt Hermione said, leading the way to the dormitories, and gently knocking on the door of the first year dormitory. 

“Who is it?” came Molly’s sniffly voice. 

“It’s just me, love,” Aunt Hermione called through the door. 

“Aunt Hermione?” Molly asked.

“And Uncle Harry, and others,” Uncle Harry said. 

“Oh, so we’re just  _ others  _ now?” Louis muttered to Lily. 

“Can we come in?” Aunt Hermione asked.

“If you want,” 

It was a depressing sight. Molly’s bed had been shoved, presumably by the other girls, to the very corner of the room, away from all the others. Molly was sat cross legged in the middle of it, tears streaming down her face at a steady pace. She looked so upset that Lily almost felt as though she was intruding on something that she shouldn’t be. 

“Oh, Molls,” Aunt Hermione said quietly, hurrying over to her, “what’s wrong? Is it the other girls?”

“No one wants to be friends with me!” she sobbed, “they all think that they’re gonna get murdered! And I’m scared that I am!”

“No one is getting murdered, Molly,” Uncle Harry said gently. 

“B-But the man s-said that he would!” she exclaimed, “he said that he was c-coming for us!”

“Do you really think we’d just let that happen?” Uncle Harry asked, “no one is coming for you. It’ll get sorted. Is there anything that Aunt Hermione hasn’t sorted out?”

“She did manage to resolve the Great Water Fight of 2020 before Teddy, James and Fred drowned each other,” Louis pointed out. 

“And that was all whilst sorting out all those Werewolf issues,” Hugo added. 

“Exactly!” Aunt Hermione said, “and these lot aren’t scared, are you?”

“Not in the slightest,” Lily said quickly, noticing the look that Aunt Hermione was giving her, “I actually keep on forgetting about it,”

“And even if the Dark Order were an issue-”

“Which they aren’t,” Aunt Hermione interjected. 

“Yes,” Hugo agreed, “but even if they were an issue, James, Fred and Teddy would probably sort them out with a couple of water balloons,” 

“What about my friends?” Molly asked miserably, “I don’t have any!”

“I’ll speak to Professor Florence. I’m sure she can sort it out,” Uncle Harry said, “this really is something you need to worry about, Molly,”

“Come on,” Aunt Hermione said, holding out her hand and standing up, “we’ll go to the kitchens and get some food,” 

“I thought it was against the rules?” Hugo said. 

“Oh, lighten up, Hugo,” Aunt Hermione said, winking at him whilst Molly giggled. 

“How do I always end up being the butt of the joke?” Hugo muttered as they left the room. 

“Could be because you are a joke,” Louis said. 

“Shut up, Louis,” Hugo snapped, “you’re a rubbish Veela,” 

“Hey! I could charm anyone I wanted! I just choose not to!” Louis exclaimed

“Course you do, Lou, course you do,” Uncle Harry said, clapping him on the back. 

\---

Lily decided that watching people excitedly leave a room to go somewhere where she couldn’t was nothing short of cruel. The Ravenclaw common room was emptying at a fast rate as students hurried off to Hogsmeade, intent on stocking up on the essentials: Butterbeer, Dungbombs, Chocolate and maybe some parchment if they could drag themselves away from the new Weasleys Wizards Wheezes shop that had opened. Lily heard that it as almost as amazing as the one in Diagon Alley, but would probably not find out for a while. 

Hannah and Alex had made a big deal about how they would not go to Hogsmeade because it was unfair that Lily, Hugo and Louis couldn’t go, but they had quickly shot them down, pointing out that there was no point in them being locked up in the castle, too. Hannah had promised to bring back as much chocolate as possible and Alex had taken one for the team by listening to all the things that Hugo had really needed to buy, a list the ranged from new Ancient Runes books to Dungbombs. 

Dominique was the most angry about the whole situation; her friends had not once offered to stay behind with her, and had left the dormitory to get to Hogsmeade quite early that morning. 

“The only good thing about all this is that I can start revising for my NEWTs,” 

“They’re still a year away,” Louis pointed out to his sister. 

“I know, but if I don’t trust myself to actually revise when they’re actually happening, so I might as well do it now,” she shrugged, “you know how distracted I get,” 

Ten minutes later, she got distracted by a rune that she had never come across in a book that she did not even need to read for her school work and rushed off to the library. Lily was spending time her wisley by trying to work out the best moment to use the stone to not arouse suspicion. The fact that all of her cousins were around did not help. All of her cousins apart from Hugo, that was, he had muttered something about going to the library almost two hours ago and had still not returned.

“I’m going to find Hugo,” Lily announced, feeling like this was a good enough excuse to leave the common room for a while. 

“He’s probably buried up to his head in books,” Louis said, picking at the thread on the armchair he was sat on, “he’ll be fine,” 

“Or he’ll be overly-stressed about something he doesn’t even need to be slightly stressed about,” Lily said, “do you know where the Marauders Map is?”

“Hugo has it,”

“For god's sake,” Lily muttered, “Well, I’ll see you later. Bye, Molly,” 

“See you,” 

“Bye,” 

Checking and double checking to make sure she still had the Stone in her pocket and had not lost it somewhere in the halls, Lily was not really paying attention to where she was going. Before she had even realised it, she had made it to the seemingly deserted other side of the castle. Desperate to talk to her family, Lily hurried over to the nearest broom cupboard and opened it. 

“AGGHHHHH,” 

Lily jumped backwards for the cupboard seemed to be screaming at her. It took her a couple of seconds that it wasn’t the cupboard that was screaming at her, but the two people stood in the cupboard. It then took a further few seconds for Lily to realise that the two people in the cupboard were Hugo and David Addington-Oakes. 

“Hugo!” Lily exclaimed, feeling her cheeks beginning to burn, “I, um, I was just...hi, Oakes,” she said feebly, realising that she didn’t actually know what to say. 

Hugo screamed again and shoved David away from him, who yelped and almost fell to the ground. The three of them stood in silence, staring between each other. 

“I...I just remembered that I have something to do...in a completely different part of the castle,” he looked between them again, “you know, depending on how the next conversation between you goes, I might have something to do in a completely different country,” 

“Bye,” Hugo said. 

“Yeah...bye,” Lily said quietly. 

“This isn’t how I wanted you to find out about...you know,” Hugo said quietly, shuffling his feet. 

Lily nodded, “Yeah, no, I get it,” 

He smiled awkwardly at her, “but, guess you know now,” 

“Guess I do,” 

He frowned at her, “You’re pissed off,” 

Lily forced herself to hold his gaze, “yeah, maybe I am,”

Hugo looked affronted. 

“If its because it’s a  _ guy- _ ”

“No, that isn’t the issue!” Lily snapped, quite offended that he would ever think that that would bother her. 

“What is it then?”

“It’s because it’s  _ him!” _

Hugo rolled his eyes at her, “When we were watching that Quidditch match, you made a joke about him! And I thought it was a, “I’m joking about it to show that I don’t really care” kind of joke!”

“Jesus Christ, Hugo, I was joking! I thought it was a stupid crush at most and that was why you were spending time with him! Or - or I thought that you were just gay!” 

“Right, well, it’s not a stupid crush so can you please just tell me that you’re OK with it so I an pretend that none of this ever happened?”

“No,” Lily said, “I can’t. He’s an absolute dick, Hugo!”

“You agreed with Alex the other day when he said that he’s gotten bearable!”

“ _ Bearable,  _ Hugo, not ...not....kiss worthy!” Lily yelled, “after everything that he’s said about me! And our family in general!”

“He apologised for that, Lily,” Hugo said calmly, “on numerous occasions!”

“Well don’t be expecting me to his best friend,” Lily said scathingly. 

Hugo scoffed, “Oh, yeah, Lily, because we’re going to be  _ really  _ public, because that won’t cause a stir with it? Imagine the headline, “Minister for Magic's Son, Gay”! They’d probably twist it up and blame Uncle Draco for it,” he laughed, “You actually have no idea about anything, you know that? You’re acting all pissy at me for this but do you know how hard it is to find someone like me in this damn castle? How many people do you think are out in the magical community? You hear what people say about Uncle Harry and Uncle Draco! People aren’t actually OK with people like them, people like  _ us,  _ they just pretend they are!” 

“Hugo-”

“Do you know how many death threats my mum got when she helped legalise gay marriage? How many death threats she  _ still  _ gets?” Hugo snapped, “I really thought that out of everyone in Hogwarts, you’d be the one person who actually supports me!”

“I do support you, Hugo! But - whatever, you don’t care,” Lily muttered, “I’m going back to the common-”

“Wait,” he said, “what were you doing going into a broom cupboard?”

“Nothing,” 

He stared at her, “What were you doing, Lily?”

“Nothing!” she said. 

He stared at her for a little while longer and then he gasped, “The Stone! You’re still using the Stone!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hugo,” she snapped before stomping up and deciding that her dead family were much better company than her live family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading! I hope you're all still enjoying this <3
> 
> -E.


	25. The Curious Case of the Bloody Idiot

Lily and Hugo were both very good at giving people the silent treatment when they needed to, so when it came to them giving the silent treatment to each other, there was some worry that they would never speak again. When Hannah and Alex had gotten back from Hogsmeade and realised that they had had some sort of argument, they both reacted in the same way; complaining. When Molly, Dominique and Louis realised they were arguing, they just rolled their eyes and said that they would get over it, because they always did. 

Lily, however, was determined not to get over it first. She wanted to be the second person to get over it. So whenever Hugo was in the same room as her, she would turn her back on him ever so slightly and act as though she could not hear him when he spoke. When Hannah had asked her what they had been arguing about, she lied and said that it was something stupid about the Dark Order and that she didn’t want to speak about it. Thankfully, Hannah respected that and did not pry. 

The most annoying thing about the whole situation, however, was that she wasn’t really sure what she was angry about. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that she had never really thought about Hugo as straight or gay, so him finally admitting out loud to her that he was, wasn’t really so much of a shock. Even the fact that David Addington-Oakes was his boyfriend wasn’t that shocking to her. Hannah had been convinced since third year that their arguments was actually just flirting in disguise and Louis had always joked that the two of them argued in the same way that Uncle Harry and Uncle Draco did. She wasn’t even annoyed about the fact that Hugo had never come out to her, because even she knew how difficult it was. Perhaps she was just more annoyed because Oakes had apologised to Hugo but had never found it in himself to apologise to the rest of them. 

“Good morning, you lot!” Neville said cheerfully when they walked into the Greenhouses on Monday morning. 

“Is it?” Hugo muttered, making a point of not sitting next to Lily and instead choosing to sit next to Addington-Oakes, who suddenly looked quite awkward when he realised that Lily and Hugo were glaring at each other from opposite sides of the bench. 

“What’s up with you, Hugo?” Neville asked, “is everything OK?”

“Everything is grand, Professor,” Hugo replied, somewhat sarcastically. 

“Right...” Neville said, looking between him and Lily, who sighed knowing that the moment the bell rang at the end of the lesson, he would be running up to Uncle Harry to tell him that something was wrong, “Anyway today we are studying one of my favourite plants--”

“You say that every plant is one of your favourites,” Louis said. 

“Because they  _ are _ ,” Neville said happily. He reached behind him and placed a plant with swaying vines on the desk. 

“Is that a Devil's Snare?” Addington-Oakes asked anxiously, backing away from it. 

“Not a Devil’s Snare, David. A Flitterbloom,” Neville replied, “it’s actually a very harmful plant, that just looks like a Devil’s Snare. Many people use them as houseplants, I actually have quite a few of them,” 

“Is his entire house just full of plants?” Addington-Oakes muttered. 

“There’s more plants in his house then there is in here,” Hugo whispered back. 

“What you need to know, however, is the difference between Devil’s Snare and a Flitterbloom,” Neville continued, “because if you get them mixed up...well, anything could go wrong. For example, during the Battle of Hogwarts, myself and my old Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout, used Devil’s Snare against some death eaters,”

“Sick!” Alex exclaimed. 

Neville nodded, looking quite proud of himself, “Yes, but can you imagine the consequences if I had gotten the plants mixed up and had thrown this plant at them?”

“What would happen if you gave someone a Devil’s Snare thinking it was a Flitterbloom?” Hugo asked. 

“That actually happened once at St Mungo’s in the nineties. I think it was ninety five or ninety six,” Neville said, “It killed the patient,”

“How?” Hugo asked. 

“It’ll strangle you to death,” Neville said bluntly. 

“Right...” Hugo muttered, “whilst we’re on the subject...say I’m being strangled by said plant, how do I stop myself being strangled?”

“That’s the most normal question he’s ever asked,” Hannah muttered. 

“You could ask your mum,” Neville said, “she, your Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron and Aunt Lydia escaped from one in their first year,”

“Of course they did,” Lily sighed, “because what normal eleven year olds wouldn’t?”

“Devil’s Snare hate light, so the best thing to do is expose them to light. If you’re unable to do that, try and relax. If you relax, it’ll let you go, but back to the Flitterbloom...”

When the bell rang, Lily hurried from the classroom as quickly as possible, knowing that Neville would try and speak to her if she didn’t get out quickly. The only problem was that quickly leaving Herbology meant getting to Defence Against the Dark Arts even quicker, which would mean that she and Hugo needed to pretend not to be arguing with each other so that Uncle Harry wouldn’t get on their case, which was the last thing they needed. 

Perhaps talking to Uncle Harry wouldn’t be such a bad thing, Lily thought to herself whilst she waited outside the classroom with Hannah and Louis. After all, he had also been in the position where he had had to explain to his friends and family that he was in a relationship with someone that none of them actually liked. If it weren’t for the fact that Hugo was still glaring when he arrived outside the classroom with Alex, Lily might have put her pride aside to actually suggest that to him. 

Amazingly, they somehow got through the entire lesson without Uncle Harry realising that they weren’t speaking. Though that might have been more down to the fact that he spent the majority of the lesson talking about the time that he had tried to use  _ Impedimenta  _ on a Dark Wizard but had completely missed and accidentally jinxed Uncle Ron whilst they were still Aurors. 

“He still hasn’t forgiven me for it,” Uncle Harry sighed, “and it’s been years. It’s been so long, in fact, that we can’t even remember where we were when it happened in the first place,” 

“I’m skipping History of Magic,” Lily said quietly to Hannah when the bell rang, signalling the start of their morning break. 

“Um, why?” Hannah asked. 

“Don’t feel like going, and I need a nap,” 

“You’re doing what?” Hugo asked suddenly. 

“Why do you care?” Lily snapped. 

“You know, I think I can hear someone calling my name over there,” Louis said suddenly, “so, I’m going to walk in that direction. Coming, Alex?”

“Yep,” Louis said quickly, “Are you coming Hannah?”

“Most definitely,” 

“Is this about the Stone?” Hugo asked. 

“You’re obsessed with that Stone, Hugo,” 

“No, I’m not,” he said sharply, “I think  _ you  _ are. I see you on the Marauders Map, all the time, sat in broom cupboards on your own,” 

Lily felt her heart drop to her stomach but she forced herself not to react. Instead, she just medled her face into what she hoped was an expression of confusion. 

“I really don’t know what you’re on about, Hugo,” she said, “maybe the map is glitching,” 

Hugo rolled his eyes, “Not true. The map never lies. We all know it never lies,” 

“It was made by a bunch of teenagers-”

“-by a bunch of very intelligent teenagers,” Hugo interrupted, “Seriously, Lils, the stone is dangerous and you’re a  _ terrible  _ liar,” 

“It’s a good job I’m not lying then, isn’t it!” she snapped, “I dropped the Stone in the Forest ages ago. I’ve barely thought about it. You think about it more than I do!”

“Because I’m worried about you!” he exclaimed, “You’ve been acting so weird lately! It’s like you’re...you’re...I don’t know! You’re just being weird!”

“Don’t you have to go and meet Oakes in a broom cupboard somewhere?”

“You are the most infuriating person in the world sometimes!” he snapped before stomping off to the courtyard. 

Feeling quite proud of herself for winning an argument for once, Lily turned on her heel and hurried down to the dungeons, knowing that the Slytherin common room would basically be deserted. And she was right, there were only a few sixth and seventh years who had a free period hanging around, but none of them seemed to pay her much notice as she hurried past them and into her dormitory. She slammed the door behind her and jumped on her bed, casting  _ Muffliato  _ around her and quickly turned the Stone over in her hand and ignoring the guilt that was slowly but surely gnawing away at her. 

“Why is it that every time we see you, you look worried?” Remus asked. 

“Because I am worried!” Lily said, more angrily than she wanted to, “Sorry. It’s just that...ugh, it’s so stupid! I spend half my time worrying about the Dark Order probably coming to kill me and now Hugo is apparently dating or...or... _ whatever  _ David Addington-Oakes!”

“The Bloody Idiot?” Sirius asked with his eyebrows raised.  __

“Yes!” Lily exclaimed, “even after all the horrible stuff that he said about our family!”

“Maybe he’s not that bad,” Lily Potter said reasonably, “Sometimes you realise that the people you don’t like aren’t that bad,” 

“Yeah, and sometimes you end up marrying them!” James said happily. 

“Yeah,” Sirius said nodding, “I mean, Lily eventually managed James and Harry married Draco,” 

“No, this is different,” Lily said. 

“Is it?” Fred asked, “I mean, Draco was probably worse than the Bloody Idiot. He was a death eater. I remember George telling me that they were together,” 

“What did you think?” Lily asked eagerly, “what did my dad think?”

Fred shrugged. 

“I honestly can’t remember. It was when we were in hiding and just after he’d gotten back from Malfoy Manor, so there were bigger things to worry about,” he paused for a moment, “in fact, that’s probably what we said - “there are bigger things to worry about,”. Which there was,” 

“I suppose it’s different though, isn’t it?” Remus said, “because you’re younger and there isn’t a war going on. You do still have bigger things to worry about, though - the Dark Order, OWLS...”

“I know,” Lily said, “and I get that. It’s just...I don’t know...it’s weird because it’s David Addington-Oakes and they  _ hated  _ each other the moment they got to Hogwarts,”

“I hated James the moment I got to Hogwarts,” Lily Potter pointed out. 

“And Harry hated Draco the moment he got to Hogwarts,” Sirius said, “people change,” 

“I guess so...” Lily sighed before quickly changing the subject to something much more enjoyable. 

\---

“Are you coming to Slug Club tonight, Lils?” Louis asked whilst they were in Transfiguration. 

“Ugh, is that tonight? Probably not,”

“Don’t make me go on my own!” Louis pleaded, “I already promised Slughorn I’d go after missing the last one!”

“Go with Hugo,”

“Hugo is going with The Bloody Idiot, because they’re friends now, apparently,”

“They’re what?” Lily asked, trying to sound surprised. 

Louis shrugged, “I don’t know. They were having a perfectly normal conversation that didn’t involve insulting each other. I insulted him, though,”

“Hugo or The Bloody Idiot?”

“Both,”

“Right,” Lily said, turning back to the questions that Jowell had set them and wishing that she and Hugo were on speaking terms so she could copy him. He was sat on the other side of the room with Addington-Oakes and looked perfectly happy to be doing so. Hannah and Alex wee sat behind them, both looking quite confused as they stared at the backs of their heads, “I guess I’ll come tonight, I have nothing better to do,”

“Thank Merlin for that. I thought I was going to have throw myself of the Astronomy Tower to get out of it,”

When the evening did eventually roll around and Lily was sat in Professor Slughorn's office, she immediately regretted it. Somehow, she had ended up sat next to Addington-Oakes and she wasn’t quite sure which one of them was feeling more awkward. Hugo was sat across from them and was determindley looking at Professor Slughorn, who seemed quite unaware of how awkward his little evening was. 

“Sir, can I ask you a question?” asked Eileen Smith, a fourth year Hufflepuff who Lily had never warmed too. Lydia had gone to school with Eileen’s dad, and often spoke about how much she liked hexing him. 

“Of course, dear, of course,” Slughorn said cheerfully, though Lily was quite sure she knew what was going to be asked. 

“Do  _ you  _ think that there’s going to be another war?” 

“Ah, I see that you’re all still talking about the Dark Order,” he chuckled, “I really don’t think that this is anything that any of you need to be worrying about. There isn’t going to be another war, that I’m sure of,”

“How can you be so sure though?” Hugo asked. 

“Because I’ve lived through two of them, Hugo,” he said, “and this doesn’t feel like the lead up to a war. Besides, with your mother running the country, I doubt that we’re in any trouble. How is she dealing with all this?”

Hugo shrugged, “I don’t know, really. I think she’s OK. It was the final trial today and she sentenced him to three years in Azkaban,”

“Is three years enough?” Eileen asked, “I mean, really! After what he did?”

“I’m quite sure the Minister for Magic understands the law better than you do, Eileen,” Addington-Oakes snapped. 

“Now, now,” Slughorn said, holding up his arm, “everyone’s entitled to their own opinion...but we should not talk about something so dull and depressing! There are much more exciting things to be talking about! Like the Quidditch season for instance, in a few weeks, I think the Tornadoes will be coming for a visit, and I would love for you all to meet them,” 

“Brilliant!” Louis exclaimed, “I hope I get to meet the Keeper! What’s his name? Jack? John? Jim?”

“I think it’s Jim,” Dominique said thoughtfully, “Jim Potty-Lalfoy? No...that’s not right...”

“Jimmy Potted Plant - Malloy,” Hugo corrected, “that's his name,” 

“I don’t get it,” Eileen said, “what are you going on about?”

“The Tornadoes keeper, Jimmy Potted Plant - Malloy,” Lily said, “he’s apparently  _ really _ annoying in real life,” 

As always, there was quite a rush to get out of the door when Slughorn brought the evening to an end. It was only the likes of Eileen Smith who stayed behind to smarm up to him a bit more. Lily liked Slughorn, she really did, but she found that he was only bearable in small doses, and she didn’t want to get so annoyed by him that she stopped enjoying Potions. 

“Um, Lily, can I speak to you?”

She turned around to find David Addington - Oakes awkwardly stood in front of her. 

“Sure,” Lily said, frowning slightly. 

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, I mean,  _ I  _ don’t even want to talk about it but...Hugo really misses you and he doesn’t like arguing with you and-”

“It’s really none of your business, Oakes,”

“I know,” he said quickly, “Well, I don’t actually, because he wasn’t in that broom cupboard on is own, was he?”

“Well, no because that would be weird,”

“Obviously,” he said, “I just...I actually want to say thanks for not telling anyone. My family are pretty liberal but I’m not ready for everyone to know, and, obviously, he’s the son of the Minister for Magic so-”

“I know. I get it,” Lily said, wishing that the ground would swallow her up so she wouldn’t have to have this conversation, “besides, it’s not my place to come out for either of you,”

He nodded, “Yeah. And, um, I also want to...I also want to apologise. For everything I used to say about you and your mum. I was just stupid and had this weird crush on Hugo but didn’t want to admit it to myself and I didn’t want to admit that I was gay so I took it out on other people and I’m sorry,”

Lily raised her eyebrows at him and almost didn’t know what to say. She never thought that she would see the day when he would apologise to her. 

“Thanks for, uh...thanks for apologising,” 

“Yeah. I mean, I should have done it ages ago but...whatever,” he smiled at her awkwardly, “Well, I’m going to bed. See you,”

“Bye,” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lily and Hugo arguing is exactly like Lydia and Harry arguing and that amused me to no end. 
> 
> Thank-you for reading!!
> 
> -E.


	26. Birthday at the Three Broomsticks

Quite suddenly, it was March. Which meant that quite suddenly, it was Lily’s birthday, a day that she very rarely looked forward to. With it being in term time, Lily could usually hope for a quiet day that wouldn’t draw too much attention to her, but when she got a letter off her mother a few days before, she knew that she would have no such luck.

“ _Hi Lils,_

_I hope everything is OK. Everything is fine at home, before you start to panic and think that is a letter bearing awful news. It isn’t. Unless you think that awful news is your dad still refusing to wear his glasses to work and causing injury to both himself and customers. If you ask Uncle Ron, this isn’t awful news because I don’t think he’s ever had so much fun at work watching your dad cause general problems._

_Anyway, it’s your birthday soon and I feel bad about the fact that you lot can’t go into Hogsmeade anymore, so I spoke to Aunt Hermione who spoke to Professor McGonagall, the Aurors and various other important people and we’ve decided that it’s safe for you all to come into Hogsmeade on the day of your birthday! We’ve hired out that room in the Three Broomsticks, so you can bring who you want. You’ll have to walk up with Uncle Harry and god knows how many Aurors though, so don’t think you’re completely free from them._

_Owl me back as soon as possible so I can send out invitations._

_Love you,_

_Mum._

_P.S, Teddy wants to know if you want him to bake you a cake._

_P.P.S, Fred wants me to tell you that Teddy cannot bake a cake, so it’s just best to thank him and say no, but it’s your call._

_P.P.P.S, your dad just reminded me that Teddy will not take no for an answer, so you’re just going to have to take the cake and deal with it. You don’t have to eat it, though_ ,”

“Oooh, a birthday party. I’m all up for that,” Hannah said, reading the letter over her shoulder.

“You have no concept of privacy, you know that, right?”

“We’ve lived together for four years, Lily, privacy isn’t a thing between us,”

“Ew,” Alex said, wrinkling his nose.

“I don’t know what you thought I meant by that, but get your mind out of the gutter, weirdo,” Hannah said.

“Your words, not mine!” he exclaimed.

“So, are you going to have a party, because I really think you should,” Hannah said, turning her back on Alex.

“You’re not going to let me say no, are you?” Lily sighed.

“Nope!” Hannah said brightly.

And knowing that there was no one in her life who would take no for answer, Lily scribbled a quick reply to her mum, with the suggestion to maybe get a second cake, just in case the one that Teddy baked was inedible.

“I always thought that Teddy would be able to bake,” Alex said thoughtfully.

“Why?” Louis asked, frowning.

“I don’t know, he just seems the type,”

“Yeah, that’s because he’s got the gift of being able to bullshit his way through life,” Hugo said.

Lily snorted and returned to eating her breakfast. She and Hugo had not exactly made up, but they also hadn’t had another argument. Things were still awkward between them though, especially whenever David Addington-Oakes was around. Lily had not had another one on one conversation with him, either, and was quite happy to keep it that way for the rest of the her life. And as she glanced over at Addington-Oakes who was sat a couple of seats down from her and awkwardly glancing over every now and then, she was quite sure that he felt the exact same.

“The sooner my birthday is over the better,” Lily said as the bell rang.

“Why? Fifteen is a great age!” Alex said.

“How would you know?” Hugo asked, “it’s not your birthday till July,”

Alex glared at him.

“I’m just trying to be optimistic unlike you lot,” he muttered.

\---

The day of Lily’s birthday came quicker than she wanted to. She also woke up earlier than she wanted to thanks to Peeves causing a racket outside the door. Fuming, Lily launched herself out of bed and stuck her head out of the door to find the Poltergeist bobbing up and down.

“Peeves!” she hissed, “it’s really early!”

He cackled loudly, “I know, but Peevsie wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday!”

“You wanted to what?”

“I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday!” he said, before dropping five ink pellets on her head and swooping away from her, still cackling.

Somehow more angry than she already was, Lily stormed back into her dormitory, grabbed a towel from under her bed and stomped into the showers, all whilst cursing Peeves. By the time she was out of the shower and her hair was dry, she realised that she still had hours before she had anywhere else to be and all the other girls had fallen asleep again after the slight distraction by Peeves.

With nothing better to do, Lily grabbed the Resurrection Stone from her chest of drawers and quickly left the room. With no one else awake yet, she risked going to a broom cupboard closer to the common room and turned the Stone over in her hands three times.

“You look nice,” Lily Potter said, “are you going somewhere?”

“Yes, actually,” Lily replied, “it’s my birthday. I’m going into Hogsmeade,”

“Happy Birthday!” Sirius said happily.

“Have you and Hugo sorted out your David Addington-Oakes problem, yet?” Remus asked.

“No,” Lily sighed, “Well...not really. We’re being civil to each other, and he’s not mentioned it. So I won’t,”

“You shouldn’t ruin your relationships with your cousins, Lily,” Sirius said, sounding the most serious that she had ever heard him, “especially if you’re lucky enough to have cousins that you actually like and don’t turn into murderers,”

“You always know how to ruin the mood don’t you, Pads?” James said, shaking his head, “it’s her birthday, for Merlin's sake!”

“Sometimes people need to learn harsh truths, and sometimes they have to learn it on their birthday!” Sirius exclaimed.

“He does have a point,” Lily Potter said reasonably, “one of my biggest regrets is that I never reconciled with Petunia. Not that I would want to now,” she added quickly, “especially after the way she treated Harry and Lydia...but I wonder if she would have treated them differently if we had had a different relationship...”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself for that,” Fred said, “I met the Dursleys once...and they were not nice,”

“Didn’t you nearly kill Dudley?” Remus asked.

“No, we just nearly made him choke on his tongue,” Fred said flippantly.

“So you nearly killed him,” Remus said.

“It all depends on your definition of-”

“Shhh,” Lily said suddenly, “someone's coming!”

The six of them fell silent as footsteps passed by the door, and they did not speak again until they had faded away. Heart beating out of control in her chest, Lily realised going somewhere so close to a well-populated area of the castle was stupid and that she was skating on thin ice.

“I should get going,” Lily said.

Instead of going back to the common room, Lily walked up to the Great Hall, and regretted it almost immediately. As soon as she sat down next to Dominique, she, Hannah and Alex erupted into a terrible chorus of Happy Birthday, causing quite a few people to look around in alarm before offering her a feeble, “Happy Birthday,”.

Regardless of the fact that she hated having so much attention on her, Lily actually enjoyed breakfast, and was in quite a mood by the time they had to leave for Hogwarts. She didn’t even let the stern faced Aurors who were stood at the doors of the Great Hall ruin her mood.

“Where’s Hugo?” Uncle Harry asked, looking around, “he’s coming, isn’t he?”

Lily froze, suddenly realising that she had no idea if she and Hugo were on good enough terms for him to happily go into Hogsmeade with them. She looked around the Entrance Hall and found him stood at the bottom of the stairs with David Addington-Oakes.

“I’ll go and get him,” Lily said, deciding that it might have been time for her to put aside her pride.

“Hurry up,” Uncle Harry said, “or your mum’ll become convinced that you’re dead in a ditch, and then I’ll end up dead in a ditch,”

Lily rolled her eyes and hurried over to Hugo, who seemed quite worried to see her rushing over to him.

“Happy Birthday,” he said awkwardly.

“Thanks,” she said, “Um, are you coming into Hogsmeade today?”

He raised his eyebrows at her.

“Do you want me to?”

“Yeah,” she said. She glanced over at David who looked as though he wanted the ground to swallow him up, “and, um, bring a...bring a friend if you want,”

“Bring a friend?”

“Yeah,”

“Is that your way of telling me that I can bring David even though you don’t like it?”

“Yeah,”

“That is the shittest olive branch I have ever been offered,”

“Right, well, if you don’t want to come-”

“I’m still going to come,”

“Oh,” she said, slightly confused, “Well, uh, Uncle Harry is waiting,”

When they walked back over to Uncle Harry, he seemed ever so slightly surprised.

“David is here,” he said, rather stupidly.

“Hello, Professor Potter,” David said, awkwardly waving.

“I don’t understand teenagers,” he decided, “Come on then, you lot, before Lydia kills us all,”

“I often get the impression that Aunt Lydia always wants to kill you, Uncle Harry,” Louis said.

“That’s true,” Uncle Harry sighed, “she was worse than Voldemort sometimes,”

It took them much longer to get into Hogsmeade than it usually would on account of the Aurors stopping every three minutes after becoming convinced that someone was following them.

“Jesus Christ!” Harry yelled, “there’s no one following us!”

“We can’t be sure about that, Mr Potter,” one of the Aurors said, shoving him backwards.

“If there was someone following us, I’m pretty sure that we’d be dead,” Uncle Harry snapped.

“You’re not an Auror,” the Auror replied, “We’re calling the shots, here,”

“I was an Auror,” Uncle Harry muttered, “I also killed the bloody Dark Lord but let’s just forget that,”

By the time they actually got to the Three Broomsticks, Uncle Harry was in a bad mood and kept on muttering about how he wanted a glass (or two) of Firewhiskey. Louis found the whole thing quite hilarious and actually thanked the Aurors for managing to put him in such a bad mood.

And Lily didn’t actually blame him for being in a bad mood because once she got upstairs in the Three Broomsticks and saw how many people that were there, all she wanted to do was turn on her heel and walk out. She might have even welcomed an attack from the Dark Order if it meant that she could slip out of sight.

As always, Teddy and James managed to make a ridiculous amount of noise when she walked in, but their terrible rendition of a terrible birthday song that they had made up came to an abrupt end when they saw David Addington-Oakes awkwardly hovering behind Hugo.

“Is that - is that the Bloody Idiot?” Teddy asked, gobsmacked.

“Don’t call him that, Teddy!” Aunt Hermione said, hitting his arm before walking over and shaking Davids arm, “Lovely to meet you, dear, I’ve heard...a lot about you,”

“Yeah, we all have,” James whispered, “We’ve all heard how much Hugo hates him,” he shook his head for a moment and then perked up, “Happy Birthday, Lily!”

“Thanks James,” she said, trying to ignore the fact that it seemed like every single Weasley had travelled up to Hogsmeade for a not very important birthday.

“Lily, are you not going to say hello to your favourite uncle?” Uncle Ron asked, grinning at her and holding out his arms for a hug.

“I’ve not seen Uncle Draco yet,”

Uncle Ron gasped and dropped his arms to his side, “You know what, you’re not getting a hug for that,”

“Oooh, you walked right into that one, Ronnie,” George laughed, “Happy Birthday, Lils,”

“Thanks dad,” Lily smiled, she glanced around the room, “Where’s mum?”

“She’s with Dudley,”

“He came?” Lily asked, genuinely surprised. She knew that her mum and Uncle Harry had struck up some sort of a friendship with their cousin, but she didn’t think that it stretched this far.

“Uncle Vernon is quite ill,” George said, “got months to live, apparently,”

“Good riddance, I say,” Uncle Ron said.

“He’s still someone's dad,” George said reasonably, “but I will not be crying at the funeral,”

“Can we talk about something slightly more cheerful, considering it’s my birthday?” Lily asked.

“Sure,” Uncle Ron said, “but I’m still not giving you a hug,”

He lasted ten minutes before he was overcome with guilt and had to hug her.

Lily felt like she did quite well with socialising. She spent more than enough time with Aunt Muriel, before Alex had to rescue her, and even managed to get through an entire conversation with Hugo and David without wanting to collapse. She even managed to sit through Fred and Teddy singing to her without punching either of them, and she often felt like a conversation that did not end with her punching either of her brothers, was a successful one. Although, when she saw the quite terrible cake that Teddy had baked her, she very nearly did punch her.

“I tried to make it Slytherin colours,” he said, pointing at the lopsided cake.

“It’s brown and pink,”

“I know,” he said, “it turns out I’m not very good at colours unless it’s my hair,”

She bent closer to get a better look, “You spelt my name wrong. You’ve spelt Lily with two “L's” at the end,”

“Shit, did I?” Teddy muttered, “I get easily confused when I write with anything thicker than a quill. Everything just feels wrong, you know?”

“I can’t believe you can’t spell your own sisters name right,” Uncle Charlie said, shaking his head, “it’s not like it’s a particularly hard name to spell!”

It was a great relief when Lily managed to locate Uncle Draco sat at a table on his own. Lily often found that the best way to deal with family gatherings was to sit with Uncle Draco at least once throughout the day because he always managed to make everything a lot less overwhelming.

“I was wondering how long it’d be until you’d come and find cover here,” he said, “Happy Birthday,”

“I’m so tired,” she said, rubbing her eyes, “why are family parties so tiring?”

“At least it isn’t a Malfoy family gathering,” he said, “They are way too formal for my taste,”

“That’s because you married down,”

“That is true. Your Uncle Harry really is punching above his weight,” he said, “Although, my mother would probably say - is that the Bloody Idiot?”

“Oh, yeah...” Lily said, “him and Hugo are, um, friends, now,”

“I always knew that Hugo was gay,”

Lily choked on her drink, “I said they were friends - not - Hugo isn’t - even if they were - I mean, honestly, they’re just - you know, if he asks, I never-”

“Relax, Lils,” Uncle Draco said laughing, “I knew it from the moment Hugo started complaining about him. It sounded too much like me and Harry,”

“I’m not saying anything!”

“I can see that they’re holding hands under the table,”

“Oh,” Lily said, “but please, please, don’t tell anyone! I only accidentally found and-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, putting his arm around her, “I’m not saying anything. Just give them time,”

“Everything OK over here?” Lydia asked, walking over and sitting in the seat opposite them, “which one of you is having a crisis?”

“Neither of us,” Uncle Draco said, “we were just talking about Harry and I when we were younger,”

Lydia snorted, “You were both so annoying in eighth year before you got together,”

“We couldn’t all get engaged when we were seventeen!” Unce Draco exclaimed.

“Mum, how did you react to Uncle Draco and Uncle Harry when they first got together?” Lily asked before she could stop herself.

“Um, I can’t really remember,” Lydia said, clearly surprised to be asked such a question, “I think...I don’t know, I just wanted him to be happy. I wasn’t thrilled that it was Draco at first, but I had bigger things to worry about...and then after everything that happened at Malfoy Manor, I realised that they were kind of perfect for each other,”

“You did?” Uncle Draco asked.

“Yeah, you both did stupid things in the name of love and all that,” Lydia said flippantly, “why do you ask, Lily?”

Before Lily could make up what would probably have been a terrible lie, there was a sudden bright light in the middle of the room and, for one wild moment, Lily thought that someone was somehow using the resurrection stone.

“Is that - is that a Patronus?” Lydia asked, sitting up straighter, “what’s going-”

A voice suddenly filled the room and everyone fell silent.

“I’m ever so sorry to interrupt Minister, I know you’re with the family, but Corvus has escaped from custody. He is at large again,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading!


	27. Proud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw//
> 
> mild homophobia (being outed)

Lily often wondered what it must have been like for her mum and Uncle Harry in the initial weeks and months after Lord Voldemort came from the dead. She wondered what it must have been like for them to feel like every breath they took might be their last because who knew when he would show his face again? But now that Corvus had broken out of his cell at the Ministry, she was quite sure that she knew  _ exactly  _ how they had felt. Every loud noise made her jump, every dark, shadowy corner of the Slytherin common room made her anxious and she was often plagued with nightmares of awful things happening to her and the people around her. The only good thing about the entire thing was that it had made Lily and Hugo make up for the ridiculous argument that they had been having.

Since Lily’s birthday party, Aunt Hermione had done many frantic press conferences, promising the public that despite everything that had happened and everything that was happening, they were not at war. The Daily Prophet, on the other hand, (and particularly Rita Skeeter) were running with the idea that they were at war again and that was not at all helping with the fear that was spreading through Hogwarts like a very unwelcome rash. 

Hidden under the gentle crackle of a fire underneath a cauldron or the strange shriek of a creature in Care of Magical Creatures was frenzied discussions of how Corvus had broken out, but most importantly,  _ why.  _ Lily felt as though she could answer exactly why he had broken out, and she had the feeling that it had a lot to do with her and her cousins. And being the daughter of the Girl who Lived seemed to have put a higher price on her head; teachers walked her to and from class, whenever she needed to go the bathroom, someone went with her and the grounds of Hogwarts were teeming with Aurors who kept a close eye on anyone who had some sort of relation to the Potter twins.

March eventually bled into April and Lily found herself wishing that she was taking her OWLs that year, because at least then she would have something to distract her from whatever was happening outside of the castle walls. And with the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts drawing nearer, Lily found herself beginning to spiral even more than she usually did at that time of year. She wondered if Corvus was indeed aiming for another war, hoping to bring even more death and destruction to the Wizarding World. More importantly though, she wondered if he was aiming for  _ her  _ death and destruction. Was she entering the last few months of her life? If she was, then she was determined to be prepared for it. She didn’t want to be like James and Lily who had not expected someone to betray them. She did not want to be like Sirius who had no idea that the battle at the Department of Mysteries would be his last. 

No, she wanted to be like her mum who had, deep down, always known that she probably wasn’t go to survive the war. She wanted to be able to face Corvus in the same way that her mother had had to face Voldemort. If she had to die, she would do so bravely and-

“Lily, are you listening?”

Her head snapped up and she suddenly remembered that she was sat in Defence Against the Dark Arts. 

“Sorry, Professor,” Lily muttered, “zoned out for a second,”

“Clearly,” Uncle Harry said, frowning at her. “Anyway, as I was saying...the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts is drawing nearer and nearer. In fact, it is...two weeks today. But as you can imagine with all that's going on, things are going to slightly different this year in that there is going to be a lot more security,” 

“Fun,” Hugo muttered.

“And I’m telling you this because the Minister and Professor McGonagall are worried that the Dark Order might see the anniversary as a perfect time to attack,” Uncle Harry continued. 

As she was listening to him, it suddenly occurred to Lily that Uncle Harry looked the oldest that she had ever seen him; there was more grey in both his hair and beard. There were dark bags under his eyes and, somehow, his scar looked more prominent than usual. And she couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been since he had had a full night's sleep. 

“I’m also worried that this might happen,” he said, “so, on the day, if you see anyone acting suspicious, even if you think you’re being dramatic, please,  _ please _ , tell someone,” 

The bell rang and he smiled, “Alright. I’ll see you all next week, have a good weekend. Lily, Hugo, Louis, will you-”

“Stay behind?” they said in unison. 

He smiled at them apologetically, “Thank-you,”

Dragging their feet slightly, they made their way over to the front of the class. 

“Before I walk you to whatever common room you’re going to, I need to speak to you about something,”

“What?” Louis asked, “did we all do bad on our essays? Because I’m quite sure that I-”

“I haven’t marked your essays yet,”

“Good, because I did not hand mine in,” Louis said.

“For the love of Merlin - just hand it in next week,” Uncle Harry sighed, “Look, there’s going to be a quite horrible article written in the Daily Prophet next week about our family, and I just want to prepare you for it. It’s written by Rita Skeeter so it isn’t going to be nice, to anyone. Including you three,”

“Brilliant. Just what we need,” Lily said. 

“It is isn’t great, I know,” Uncle Harry said, “and I haven’t read it yet, but Skeeter was kind enough to owl me to tell me,”

“That’s nice of her,” Hugo said reasonably. 

“She sent me a letter to tell me how horrible it is, so don’t get your hopes up,”

“Oh,”

“If anyone says anything horrible to you lot about it afterwards, and I mean  _ anything _ , just let me know or let Neville know or let someone know,” Uncle Harry said, “when she first started writing about me, I didn’t have the Minister for Magic on my side, but you lot do,”

“We’re only kids, she isn’t going to say something that horrible, is she?” Louis asked. 

“Yes,” Uncle Harry said firmly, “Rita Skeeter has a lot of power, even now. Most of the rumours that people believed about me and Aunt Lydia were thanks to her,”

“Can’t wait,” Louis said brightly. 

How terrible Rita Skeeter's article actually was was revealed the next day. When Lily first woke up, she could not quite remember why she felt so anxious and just assumed that it had something to do with Corvus. It was only when she got to the Great Hall for her breakfast that she realised that something was wrong. It was not unusual to see a large number of students reading the Daily Prophet, but it was quite unusual for people to stop what they were doing and stare at her as she hurriedly located Louis, Dominique, Molly, Hannah and Alex at the Hufflepuff table. 

“Whats going on?” Lily asked, “Where’s Hugo?”

“It’s the article,” Dominique said miserably, chucking it across the table at her, “Read it,”

 

**_“The Twisted Truth About the Potter-Weasley-Malfoy Family_ **

 

_ I do often find myself wondering if there will ever be an edition of the Daily Prophet that does not mention this family,  _ writes Rita Skeeter.  _ Of course, it is quite difficult to not write about them. They are the most famous family in our community, and there is still so much that we have to thank Harry and Lydia Potter for.  _

_ It it almost impossible to believe that those two twin heroes were reintroduced into public life twenty seven years ago during the Triwizard Tournament that they were never meant to apart of. Now, 43 years of age, the Potter twins have moved on with their lives: Harry, who is currently the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts, married ex-death eater and current Head Healer at St Mungo’s, Draco Malfoy. The couple have two children: James, 20, and Ruby, 18, who are both Quidditch players. And Lydia, who is a retired Quidditch player and currently working at a Werewolf charity, married Hogwarts sweetheart George Weasley, owner of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. Together, they have three children: adopted son Teddy Lupin, 24, who works with Lydia at the Werewolf charity, another son, Fred, 18, who is an apprentice under Garrick Ollivander, and fifteen year old Lily, who is currently a student at Hogwarts.  _

_ And as though things could not be more perfect for them, their two best friends, Ron Weasley and Minister for Magic Hermione Granger-Weasley married and had two children together - Rose, who is 18 and working at the Ministry and fourteen year old Hugo, who, I can exclusively reveal, is gay-" _

Lily slammed the paper down onto the table, seething with rage.

“I’m not reading anymore of this crap,” 

“Good call,” Louis said, “it was not nice,”

“Never mind that,” Dominique snapped. She looked at Lily tearfully, “Is it true? About Hugo?”

“How would I-”

“You’re the closest to him out of all us!” Louis exclaimed, “you’re like brother and sister!”

“It’s not - it’s not my place to say,” Lily said, “I wouldn’t want to - I don’t want to - where is he?”

“He read the paper and then ran,” Alex told, “No idea where. Your Uncle Harry went looking for him,”

“All those times I went on and on about him about having a girlfriend!” Hannah said, her head in her hands, “I feel so stupid!”

“I need to go and find him,” Lily said, swinging herself off the bench.

“Do you not want to know what it says?” Molly asked, pointing to the article. 

“Later,”

Still more than aware that all eyes were on her, Lily rushed from the Great Hall and tried to think of where Hugo would go if he was upset. She tried all the common rooms, and even the library, but he was nowhere to be seen. Whenever she passed someone in the corridor, she would ask if they had seen him, but all answers were the same. 

“No, sorry,”

Starting to panic and think that something awful had happened to him, Lily ran to Uncle Harry’s office and banged on the door, hoping that he would be in there. 

“Hugo isn’t here,” he said, when he opened the door. 

Lily groaned in frustration, “Do you know where he is?”

“No,” Uncle Harry said anxiously, inviting her in, “Do you not have the Map?”

“Hugo has it,”

Uncle Harry sighed, “The Marauders Map is amazing until you don’t have it,” he ran a hand through his hair and then looked up at Lily, “are you OK? The article-”

“I haven’t read it. I stopped reading when she outed Hugo,”

“So it’s true?” Uncle Harry asked, “Hugos gay?”

Lily nodded, “Only I know. And Uncle Draco,”

“Draco?” 

“He worked it out,” Lily said impatiently, “but do you think he’s gonna be ok? Hugo?”

Uncle Harry did not reply straight away. 

“Coming out is the hardest thing that anyone could have to do.  _ Especially _ when you’re in the public eye,” Uncle Harry said slowly, “me being the Boy who Lived, saviour of the Wizarding World and all that crap did not go well with being bisexual and dating Draco Malfoy. In the same way that Hugo being the son of the Minister for Magic won’t necessarily go well with him being gay,”

“But _why_?” Lily asked angrily, “why should it matter?”

Uncle Harry shrugged. 

“With me, it was more like...after the war, people looked to me for, I don’t know...hope, I guess. And if they saw me dating a woman, then it would be the perfect ending to the story that they had written on my behalf. Me dating an ex-death eater, was  _ not  _ the perfect ending to their story, but it was the perfect ending to mine and Draco’s, so that's all that mattered,”

“But Hugo isn’t-”

“The Boy Who Lived, I know, but he is the son of an already controversial Minister for Magic...first muggle born Minister, first Black Minister...and, to add insult to conservatives injury, she has two biracial children with a blood traitor and that isn’t the perfect ending to  _ their _ story because the Minister should be white and pure blooded,” Uncle Harry interrupted, “but the perfect ending to Ron and Hermione’s stories were to get married and have kids and be happy together,”

“I still don’t understand what Hugo being gay has to do with anything,” Lily said. 

“Because he’s just ticked another box that is upsetting to the more conservative members of the Wizarding community - he is gay. So he will grow up and fall in love with a man, and that’ll piss them off!” Uncle Harry explained, “no matter what he does, whether he goes into the Ministry or works a normal job like me, he is always going to be remembered for his sexuality. In years to come when people talk about him, they’ll say, “oh, do you remember Hermione Granger's son...the  _ gay  _ one?””

“Better to be remembered as being gay than being...what is it that she called you, Uncle Harry? “ _A failed Auror who does not know how to brush his hair or shave_ ,”? Your beard _is_ getting ridiculous,"”

Lily whipped around in her chair to find Hugo stood in the door, his eyes red and puffy. 

“Hugo!” Uncle Harry exclaimed, jumping up from behind his desk and hurrying over to hug him, “Are you - are you OK?”

“Yes,” he said stiffly, “I’m...I’m...” then he burst into tears. 

“Alright, mate, alright...come on, it isn’t the end of the world. Come on, sit down,” Uncle Harry soothingly, “You’re going to be OK. We’re all going to be OK,”

“I didn’t want anyone to know!” he yelled suddenly, making Lily jump, “ _ I  _ didn’t even want to know! I hated it! I hated it for so long! And now - and now people who I don’t even know know my biggest secret! I wanted to be the one to tell people! I wanted to have to sit down with my mum and dad and tell them! I wanted to sit down with you and Uncle Draco and Uncle George and Aunt Lydia and tell you! I wanted that right! And she fucking took it away from me!”

Suddenly, the fireplace behind the desk burst into flames and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione burst out, both looking furious, followed by Rose who looked mutinous. Lydia and George staggered out moments later. 

“I’m going to murder her,” Uncle Ron snapped. 

“If she and Lord bloody Voldemort were in the same room and I could only cast one Killing Curse, I’d kill her,” Lydia said. 

“Lyds, don’t be ridiculous,” Aunt Hermione said, “you’d bounce the curse off the wall so it killed them both,”

“Maybe this is a conversation that you should be having with your mum and dad alone-” Lily began, but Hugo interrupted. 

“No! Stay with me, Lils, please,”

“OK,” she said quietly, sitting back down, “I’ll stay,”

“Do you want us to go, Hugo?” George asked anxiously. 

“No...you might as well stay,” he said miserably, “everyone knows now, anyway,” he took a deep shuddering breath and then looked up at them all. 

“I just...I  _ really  _ wanted to be able to tell you when I was ready,” 

Aunt Hermione crouched down in front of him and held his hand.

“Hugo, darling, if you aren’t ready to say it outloud to us, that’s fine. Neither me nor your father are going to push you, and your sister isn’t either-”

“No,” Rose said, “I’m just going to find Rita Skeeter and fight her,”

“That's my girl,” Uncle Ron said proudly. 

“And it’s not that I can’t say it because I’m not proud of myself!” Hugo exclaimed, tears streaming down his face, “b-because I am!”

“You don’t need to explain yourself, Hugo,” Uncle Harry said, “I know exactly how you feel, and I’m sure that if Uncle Draco was here, he’d say the exact same thing. Coming out is hard. The shittiest thing in the world is having to explain your love to someone, but there will come a day when you do it and you find the glares and the sneers no longer bother you because the only thing that matters is that you’re happy and in love,”

“We don’t love you any less, son,” Uncle Ron told him, “none of us here do,”

“You’re still my annoying little brother,” Rose said, “just, please, don’t do that thing that Uncle Draco does and say everything is homophobic. It’s really annoying,”

Hugo looked up at his sister and blinked. 

“That’s homophobic,”

“I am going to kick-”

“You can’t kick your brother, he’s upset,” Uncle Rose said, “wait until he’s stopped crying and  _ then  _ kick him,”

“Ronald...” Aunt Hermione sighed. She shook her head and wiped the tears from Hugo’s eyes, “Hugo, I’m so,  _ so  _ proud that you haven’t run away from this, and that you’ve faced it. You’re a better person than Rita Skeeter will ever be,”

“What are you going to do about her?” Lily asked. 

“I’ll have to look into what I can do,” Aunt Hermione said, straightening up, "but don't worry, she will pay for it one way or another,"

"Oooh, angry Hermione, my favourite Hermione," Uncle Harry said happily. 

“If it involves dueling, I want to be there,” Lydia said. 

“It won’t involve dueling,”

“Thats shit,” Lydia muttered, “what's the point in being a great dueler if you can’t duel the woman who outed your nephew?”

It took Hugo a while to calm down, and even longer for him to actually leave Uncle Harry’s office for fear of what people might say when they saw him. Lily was quite sure that she had never been so angry in her life and wanted nothing more than to find Rita Skeeter and punch her. Repeatedly. Possibly with a Beaters Bat, or maybe even a brick. 

“It’s gonna be alright you know,” Lily said to him, as they walked out into the grounds in an attempt to get away from anyone. 

“I know,” he said, sniffling slightly, “I’m just glad she didn’t find out about David. At least he doesn’t have to go through all this,”

“I want to know how she found out!” Lily exclaimed. 

Aunt Hermione had said that she had a few ideas, but had not bothered to disclose them. 

Hugo shrugged. 

“I don’t even care. I’m just hoping that no one makes fun of me too much,”

“I’m sorry,” Lily said suddenly, “I’m sorry for reacting so badly about David. I’ll be nicer to him from now on. I’ll be nicer to  _ you  _ from now on,”

“It really doesn’t matter, Lily,” he said, “I’m just glad you’re here now,”

Lily smiled at him and then threw her arms around his neck. He froze at first, but then quickly hugged her back as he dissolved into tears again. 

“I’m really proud that you're my cousin, Hugo,” she said quietly. 

“Me too,” he whispered back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be my favourite chapter that I've ever written! So I hoped you enjoyed reading it!
> 
> When I started writing this chapter, it was not going to end up this way, but I got the idea for Skeeter to out Hugo half way through and then couldn't resist but write it. And I hope that if any of you ever come out to your family, you're met with as much support as Hugo was. And if you aren't, I'm your family now. 
> 
> -E.


	28. Never Again

Hugo was refusing to get out of bed and no one really knew what to do. 

On the Monday morning after the article had come out in the paper, Lily sat in the Ravenclaw common room with Louis, Hannah and Alex, waiting for Hugo to come down for breakfast. Even though Lily had not actually read the entire article, she had very quickly worked out what Rita Skeeter had said about her thanks to many other students taking it upon themselves to quote it at her. According to Rita Skeeter, she showed very little talent in everything that she did, and was  well on her way to being a vast disappointment to the entire family. This might have upset Lily if she didn’t completely agree. 

Dominique suggested that Louis should go back up and drag him out of his room, but Louis refused to because the last time he had tried that, Hugo had tried to curse him. Hannah suggested that Alex go and get him, because they were both lads, but Alex said that that was a ridiculous idea and even if it  _ wasn’t  _ a ridiculous idea, he wouldn’t want to go anyway because he didn’t want Hugo to curse him. When Alex suggested that Hannah go and get him, she politely declined on the grounds that if Hugo was going to curse anyone, it would be her. 

“Can’t Dominique go?” Hannah said, “she’s the oldest,” 

“I don’t think it’s safe for me to go anywhere near the boys dormitories, Rita Skeeter did call me a slut,” she grumbled, “I’ve had one boyfriend!  _ One _ !”

“I actually think she called you a hussy,” Louis said. 

“Fuck off, Lou,” 

“I’ll go and get him,” Lily said, standing up and marching over to the boys dormitories. 

“Remember that the Shield Charm is  _ Protego _ !” Louis shouted to her. 

The fourth year boys dormitories were empty expect for Hugo who was sat on the window ledge with his back to her. Trying to pretend like she wasn’t ever so slightly terrified of heights, Lily slowly walked over to him and clambered onto the ledge next to him. 

“We’re going to be late for breakfast if you don’t hurry up,” she said. 

“I’m not coming to class today,” he said, “go and eat. I’ll be fine up here,”

“You can’t avoid the entire school forever,” Lily said. 

“Wanna bet? I could easily study from up here and-"

“No,” she said firmly, “You’re coming to class today. It’ll just make it harder tomorrow,” 

He rolled his eyes at her, “You don’t get it, Lily. You don’t get how hard all of this has been for me and how hard it’s going to be! It was difficult when I was the only one who knew and even more difficult now that the entire bloody country knows!”

Lily nodded, “You’re right. I don’t know. I don’t get it. I have no idea what it’s like, Hugo, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t help you. It doesn’t mean that everyone else can’t help you! Hannah, Alex, Louis and Dominique are all downstairs waiting for you, because they care about you and support you! And they won’t be the only ones! Do you really think that Uncle Harry is going to let people say horrible things about? Do you think Neville is?”

“People are still going to say horrible things-”

“I know they are,” Lily said, “people are always going to say horrible things, but they’re going to say horrible things about everyone. Do you remember what Skeeter wrote about Louis?”

“ _ ‘A failed Veela who’s strange admiration of Rubeus Hagrid is shown through the fact that he can speak French as well as the half giant can speak English,” _ ” Hugo said at once, “which doesn’t make sense, because Hagrid  can speak english,”

“Exactly,” Lily said, “nothing that Skeeter says is true-”

“Well, I am actually gay, Lily,” 

She rolled her eyes at him. 

“What I mean is that she only has power if we give her power. If she knew that you were up here now, refusing to leave Ravenclaw Tower, she’d probably be happy. Do you  _ really  _ want her to be happy?”

“Fine,” he sighed, “you’ve made your point. I’ll come to class,”

“Great!” Lily exclaimed, “because I really need to copy off you in Transfiguration today, I have no idea what’s going on,”

“Do you ever?” 

“I’ve been really nice to you all weekend, don’t be a dick,”

Hugo smiled at her and then looked away, wiping his eyes. 

“What?” she asked, “what is it?”

“It’s stupid but...I...I kind of wish that I speak to Remus and Sirius right now,” he said, “Uncle Harry has been great with all this and Uncle Draco sent me a great letter about it all last night but I just...I want someone who’s slightly more unbiased and the two of them they must...I don’t know, maybe I’m being stupid,” 

Lily shook her head, trying to find the right words to say. She didn’t want to admit to him that she still had the Stone, because she was quite sure that it would not go down well with him. 

“It doesn’t matter though,” he said, wiping his eyes, “You don’t even have the Stone anymore, do you?”

“No,” Lily said, leading the way out of the dormitory, “No. It’s, uh, it’s sitting at the bottom of the Lake. Somewhere,” 

He nodded, “It’s for the best,”

She forced a smile.

“It’s for the best,” she agreed. 

If it weren’t for the fact that the article had proven itself to be quite distracting, Lily might have spent the rest of the day having general anxieties about the Stone. She had not been able to use it all weekend because of Hugo, even though all she had really wanted to do was pour her heart and soul out to it. And yet, Hugo saying, “it’s for the best,” had Lily second guessing it again, but by the time they got down to the Great Hall for breakfast, she was too busy worrying about Hugo than anything else. 

“Everyone is staring,” Hugo muttered as they sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table, “How do we make them stop staring?”

“We could blind the entire school,” Hannah said, a little too seriously for it to be taken as a joke. 

“We’re not blinding anyone,” Lily said sharply, “we can just, we can just...”

“Ignore them,” Alex said, “we can just ignore them. They’re the ones with a problem, not us,”

“No, Al, I’m pretty sure we are the ones with a problem,” Hugo said in a monotone sort of voice, “I did just get outed in a national newspaper,” 

“At least you weren’t called a hussy!” Dominique exclaimed, “ _ One  _ boyfriend!”

“And I’m a failed Veela,” Louis interjected, “even though I’m only a quarter Veela so how I am actually makes a lot of sense!”

“And I’m a massive disappointment to the entire family,” Lily said brightly, “at least there’s nothing wrong with being gay,”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see if everyone else thinks that,” he muttered. 

Throughout the day, Lily found herself wanting to hex more people than she usually did. Occasionally, someone would shout something awful to Hugo but before she could even get her wand her out, someone else would have beat her to it. And for every awful comment, there was three nice ones in support of him, and although he probably would not admit it out loud, Lily could tell that he was secretly very happy about it. 

What Lily was most worried about, however, were the teachers. When they arrived in Potions, Lily suddenly realised how much older Professor Slughorn was, and was suddenly struck with the fear that he was extremely conservative. Her fear was very quickly squashed when Slughorn slipped Hugo a bar of Honeydukes chocolate with a note saying that he should be proud of who he is. This actually brought Hugo to tears and he had to leave the room for a few minutes to calm himself down. Even Professor Jowell gave Hugo a rare smile when they walked into Transfiguration, and Lily knew that that would be the best he would get out of him. As anyone could have predicted, Uncle Harry and Neville were as supportive as ever, and Lily felt as though that the day could not have not gone better. 

So whilst everyone else was at dinner, Lily snuck away from them to use the Resurrection Stone, doing her best to ignore the fact that Hugo’s words from that morning were echoing around her head. 

“Everything OK?” Remus asked when she had turned the Stone over in her hand.

“Define, ‘OK,’,” Lily muttered, “Rita Skeeter wrote an entire article about our family and outed Hugo, not just to the school, but to the country!”

What followed might have been good advice, but Lily could barely focus on what they were saying. Maybe it was for the best that she stopped using the Stone. The Tale of the Three Brothers popped into her mind, but she quickly brushed it to the side. She was not like the second brother. 

“Are you sure you’re alright, Lily?” James asked, “you seem distracted,”

“It’s getting closer and closer to the Anniversary,” she said, saying the first thing that popped into her mind, “I always get like this,” 

\---

The second day of May came around much quicker than Lily had wanted it to. With everything that had happened with Corvus and the Dark Order, it seemed to hold a different meaning. 

“How many years has it been now, Uncle Harry?” Hugo asked. 

“Twenty Five. Jesus, I’m old,” he sighed, “You know, this time twenty five years ago, I think it was just coming to an end...” his eyes traveled to the center of the Great Hall before flickering back over to them. 

“But we won, and that’s all that matters,” 

As usual, the day dragged slowly with very little to do. The increased presence of Aurors somehow made Lily more anxious. It was as though they were daring the Dark Order to come for a fight. She shuddered at the thought of them appearing out of nowhere and spent most of the day in the Entrance Hall, knowing that if her mother did not see her the moment she stepped foot in the castle, all hell would break loose. 

“Here they are,” Dominique said, standing up and hurrying over to her parents and sister. 

“Oh, Merlin, my Granddads here,” Louis said, “quick, how do you say Granddad in French? I’ve forgotten,” 

_ “ _ _ Grand-papa _ ,” Hugo said, somewhat impatiently, “You call him  _ Grand-papa,”  _

“Lily!” Lydia exclaimed, rushing over to her with George, Teddy and Fred, “Are you alright? Are you sure you’re not bothered by that article? You know that you’re not a disappointment, don’t you?”

“Obviously, mum,” Lily lied as she hugged her dad, “I’ve been more worried about Hugo than whatever Rita Skeeter has to say about me,”

“How is he?” Fred asked, watching as he walked over to where Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron were stood. 

“Fine. I think,” Lily shrugged. 

“Has anyone said anything awful? Do I get to punch someone?” Teddy asked. 

“You can’t punch school kids, Ted,” George said before lowering his voice and adding, “just slip them a Feinting Fancy, no one will ever know,” 

Lydia shook her head, “No one is doing any of that. Not today,” 

“It’s what Fred would have wanted,” George said. 

“Do not even try and guilt trip me today, George Weasley,” 

He sighed, “Full name. I’m in trouble,” 

The surprisingly happy tone was very quickly replaced with a much more different one when Rita Skeeter herself walked into the Entrance Hall. At once, Uncle Ron started towards her but Uncle Draco leapt forward and dragged him back. She did not at all seem bothered about the fact that she had just walked into a room full of the family that she had written an awful article about, and even had the audacity to beam at Hugo who quickly turned his back on her. 

“Lydia Potter! It’s been many, many years!” Skeeter trilled, as though they were two best friends meeting for the first time in years. 

“Lydia Weasley,” she corrected through gritted teeth, “You’ve got some nerve showing up here today of all days,” 

“Yes...such an awful, awful day...tell me, twenty five years on, how are you feeling?” she asked, whipping out a sheaf of parchment and quill. 

“Take a guess,” Lydia snapped, “even  _ you  _ could get that right,”

“This is everything,” Teddy whispered. 

Skeeter seemed to have heard this for she looked up at Teddy, before sweeping her eyes over Lily and Fred, too. This simple act made Lily feel extremely uncomfortable and before she knew what she was doing, she had practically hidden herself behind her dad. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever met your family before...such charming children,” Skeeter said, still acting as though they were friends, “Tell me, how do your children feel knowing that once upon a time you were considered a Dark Witch? Fred, why don’t you start?”

“Uh-”

“Don’t say anything,” George cut across him, “she’ll just twist your words anyway. And,” he added furiously, “no one ever ‘considered’ her to be a Dark Witch until you decided to pick on her when she was fourteen!”

“But your wife has practiced Dark Magic-”

“My wife saved the Wizarding World,” George snapped, “what exactly have you done with your life?”

“Alright!” Aunt Hermione said, marching over to them, “this is  _ not  _ a day for arguments! Rita, perhaps it would be best if you left, your presence-”

“-are you silencing the free press, Minister?”

Aunt Hermione fell silent and Lily thought that she might have actually conceded defeat for once. 

“No, Miss Skeeter, I’m not doing that,” Aunt Hermione said, smiling, “but I am telling you that after you insulted my entire family and outed my fourteen year old son to the entire country, your presence is not really appreciated on what is already a very difficult day for us,”

“I have a right to be here!”

“Need I remind you that I was not much older than my son when I discovered your secret and put you out of work for a year, Miss Skeeter,” Aunt Hermione replied, as calm as ever. 

Skeeter narrowed her eyes at Aunt Hermione and shoved her parchment back into her bag. 

“If you’re not careful, you might find yourself out of office!” Skeeter hissed. 

“I’m terrified,” Aunt Hermione said in a completely monotone voice, “shaking in my boots, in fact,”

"You've always had a very high opinion of yourself, Miss Prissy!" Rita exclaimed, "and it's clear that your head has gotten even bigger under all that awful hair of yours!"

"Don't think that I won't find out how you found out about Hugo, Rita," Aunt Hermione said, taking a step towards her, "because I know that it was something illegal, and I _will_ find out,"

"Are you accusing me, Minister?"

"No. I'm just warning you. If you've been illegally spying on my son, I will find out and I can promise that it will not end well for you," she said, "if I worked out that you were an Animagus when I was fifteen, I'm quite sure I'll be able to do it now,"

Lydia tutted and turned back around to face them. 

“Hermione is always so classy in arguments. I don’t know how she does it,” 

The rest of the day was considerably less exciting, and Lily thought that she might have preferred to tell Rita Skeeter all of her deepest and darkest secrets if it meant that she didn’t have to sit through the service. As always, it was upsetting and uncomfortable and Lily could not tear her eyes away from the same memorial that they had been using for as long as she could remember. The inscription, “ _ love is stronger than death _ ,” seemed to be burned into her mind. 

The speeches felt different. All seemed to carry the same message of how nothing like the last war would ever happen again, and Lily couldn’t help but think that that was wishful thinking as she looked around at the extra security. It very much felt as though they were preparing for something like the war to happen again. 

“...and now, I speak not only as your Minister, but as someone who fought in the second war and as a mother, the likes of Lord Voldemort and his death eaters will never plague our world again.  _ Never  _ again,” 

Roaring applause followed the end of Aunt Hermione’s speech, but Lily wasn’t sure how much she believed her. She wasn’t sure how much she believed that none of this would happen again. And, as she watched Neville begin to make his speech, she wondered if one day, her face would be added to that memorial. She wondered if Corvus would finally get to them and if there would be a whole new memorial, and a whole new memorial service to attend. 

Most of all, she wondered why the thought of her own funeral didn’t scare her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update, but this chapter took me much longer to write than I thought it would! But thank-you for reading!!!
> 
> <3


	29. Something Else to Worry About

Lydia had always expected it to happen again. The moment she had saw Voldemort hit the floor in the Battle of Hogwarts, she felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders and she released a breath that she had not realised she had been holding. And for a few months, she revelled in this feeling. Even when the grief layed heavy on her heart, the hope always broke through, because there was no more Voldemort. There was no more death eaters. There was no more fighting. 

Perhaps she had always known that that had all been a fantasy, because the day the Dark Order attacked them on the honeymoon, she had been scared, but she had not really been shocked. If anything, it had just felt right. It had felt right that there was still people out there to kill them and that their fight was far from over. And when all that had eventually died down again, Lydia did not let her fear die. She settled into the reality of what was her life and returned to walking through life always looking over her shoulder and making sure that her wand was never too far away. Just in case. 

But it was worse this time. After she and George had taken Teddy in, and then gone on to have Fred and Lily, she thought she understood why her mother had firmly planted herself between her and Harry and Lord Voldemort. She thought she understood the lengths to which a parent would go to protect their children, but that was before someone had publicly threatened her children. The anger she felt rush through her body when Corvus had threatened her children was like nothing she had ever experienced before. 

_ “You’re next, Madam Minister. As are your kids! And your nieces and nephews! I hope the Children who Lived taught their kids how to walk through life looking over their shoulder, because we’re coming for them!” _

Those words echoed through her mind throughout the day and well into the night. She would be discussing the finer parts of Werewolf legislation with a Magical Law Enforcement expert, and all she would be able to hear was his voice, threatening her family. She would be cooking dinner, and his voice was all she could hear. She had not been able to have a full nights sleep since the trial, because his voice reverberated around her brain again and again and again, only for her dreams to be full of her children disappearing in a flash of green light. 

“Uncle Harry’s here,” Teddy said, sticking his head into the kitchen where Lydia was making herself breakfast. 

Lydia frowned and glanced at the clock, “shouldn’t he be at school?”

Teddy shrugged, “I don’t know, he just came out of the fire,”

“If he’s ruined my fucking carpet...” she muttered, stomping passed Teddy and into the living room, “Harry Potter, I swear to Merlin if you’ve ruined my carpet, I am going to curse you into oblivion!”

“It’s  _ fine _ ,” he said, gesturing to it, “Look, completely fine!”

“What is it that you want, anyway? Shouldn’t you be at school?”

He suddenly looked uncomfortable and Lydia found herself wracked with fear. Had something awful happened to one of the kids? To Lily? She felt the room began to sway and was quite sure that her knees were moments away from giving out from underneath her. 

“The kids are fine!” he said hurriedly, “the kids are fine. It’s just...Jesus Christ, Lyds, Vernon has died,” 

“Vernon has - Vernon has died?” she said, “Uncle Vernon, you mean?”

“How many other Vernons do we know?” Harry asked, “Last night,”

Lydia slowly sank down onto the couch, unable to work out what was going on in her mind. On one hand, she was quite sure that she was thrilled that he was dead. A lot of her unhappiest memories stemmed from their years at Privet Drive and with Vernon especially, but she couldn’t help but feel for Dudley and what he was undoubtedly going through. 

“I don’t know what to say,” Lydia said. 

Harry shook his head and sat next to her, “Neither do I. Is it wrong that I’m...that I’m happy?”

“I think I am,” she said quietly, “hows Dudley? And Petunia?”

Harry shrugged. 

“Alice didn’t say. I haven’t spoken to them. I don’t know if I want to speak to them. What would we even say?” he asked, “we did get an invite to the funeral though,”

“Fucking hell...” Lydia muttered, putting her face in her hands, “We can’t - we can’t show our faces at Privet Drive, can we? The last time I was there, George punched him!”

“We have three weeks to decide,” 

“Brilliant. Something else to worry about!”

\---

“I can’t carry on like this,” Lydia said to George the first night of the summer holidays. 

Lily had gone to bed and Lydia and George were sat around the kitchen table, because Fred had not returned home from work yet and he was two minutes later than he usually was. It was a welcome distraction from worrying about whether or not she would attend Vernon’s funeral or not. 

“He’s going to be fine, Lyds. He’s got at an Auror with him, remember?” George said, though his voice was shaky. 

“Don't act like you’re not shitting yourself as much as I am,” she said. 

“I didn’t want to panic you even more,” he said, his eyes constantly flickering down to his watch. 

“Oh, believe me, my panic is at full capacity,” she muttered, “God help me if I start to panic more than - Fred!”

The kitchen door opened and Fred walked in, rubbing his eyes and yawning. 

“Hey,” he said, “is there any dinner leftover?”

“I’ll get it you,” Lydia said quickly, jumping up, “Sit down, love, you look shattered,” 

“Long, long day,” he said, dropping into the seat that Lydia had been sat in and dropping his head on the table, “and that Auror is annoying. So are the ones on the door. I’m fed up of having to prove that I’m me just to get into my own house!”

“I know it’s annoying,” George said, “but it’s for the best,” 

“Just be thankful we actually have Aurors looking out for us,” Lydia said, shuddering and placing a bowl of pasta in front of Fred, “when I was in my fifth year, we didn’t have any support from the Ministry. We were just left to defend ourselves,” 

“Yeah, but...it’s not as bad as it was last time, was it?” Fred asked, somewhat anxiously. 

“God, no!” Lydia said hastily, “Not even close,” 

Fred nodded, “How’s Lily?”

“Fine,” George said, “I think she’s just pissed off because they couldn’t go to Hogsmeade for the rest of the year, but I think she’s glad to be home.  _ I’m  _ glad she’s home,” 

“It’s going to be a really shit summer, isn’t it?” Fred asked. 

“Probably,” Lily sighed, “Me and Teddy now have to work from home,”

“Oh, fun,” Fred said, “I’m sure you’re both thrilled,”

Fred went to bed soon after that and George retreated into the living room, carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses. Before Lydia went to join him, she crept upstairs and made three stops; the first was at the door of Fred’s room. She put her ear to the door and listened to him stomp around his room for a moment, whistling. Then she crossed the hall to Lily’s door and pushed it open, peering in. She was fast asleep with the covers pulled almost completely over her head. Lydia watched her for a while and then walked to her bedroom, heading for the chest of drawers.

It took her a couple of minutes but she finally found the wad of letters that she was looking for and pulled them out, flicking through them until she found the one that she was looking for -  _ For when it feels like the entire world is crumbling around you.  _

_ “Lydia,  _

_ If you’ve picked this one up and not the one for bad days, then I hope I’m around to make you feel better. If I’m not, then I hope you have a good support system around you to stop you from doing something stupid.  _

_ There’s always going to be times in your life when you feel as though nothing is going right. There’s always going to be times in your life when you feel as though everything is crumbling around you and you have no control over anything, but the thing is, you do have control. You have the ability to control your life, and you should probably do that.  _

_ If you see that something going wrong, make it right. If you see something that's broken, fix it. As I’m writing this, you and Harry are a month old, but I know that you’re both capable of anything. Your dad is pretty sure that you could both solve all the world's problem, and I’m pretty sure that you could, too.  _

_ I don’t know what's made you pick up this letter. I don’t know if it’s because you genuinely need it or because you’re curious. I like to think that it’s the latter, but if it isn’t, and you genuinely need it, know that you can probably stop the world from crumbling if you have to. Not by duelling or violence, but by just loving as many people as hard as you can, because as I’m writing this, we need more love in the world.  _

_ Love,  _

_ Mum.  _

_ (but you should also learn how to duel really well. Some people are more receptive to curses than love).” _

On the rare occasion that Lydia returned to these letters, she found it strange that she was taking advice off a twenty one year old, but her mother often sounded so much older and wiser in these letters. And there were days when, even though she was a mother herself, all she wanted was her mum. That was easier said than done, of course. 

Sighing, Lydia placed the letters back in the drawer and went back downstairs, flopping onto the couch next to George. Immediately, he kissed her head and put his arm around her, and she felt herself begin to relax. They sat in silence for a while and Lydia closed her eyes, trying to block out all the images of her children dying that kept on forcing themselves to the front of her mind. 

“Did you ever think that we’d ever really be free from Dark Magic?” Lydia asked. 

“No,” George said, “No. I just didn’t think about it,”

“I’m scared. Of everything.” Lydia said, “Lily never seems like herself anymore, and I feel like she’s hiding something from me. Whenever I talk to her, she reminds me of me when I was her age. And I really, really don’t want her to be anything like me,”

“Teenagers hide things from their parents all the time, you know that,” George said, “me and Fred hid an entire joke shop from our parents,”

“No, you didn’t, everyone knew that you were doing the joke shop, you were terrible at hiding it,” 

“You know what I mean...”

“I’m terrified that one day Fred is going to leave he house and not come back. And now that Teddy has moved out...we don’t know where he is half the time! I only ever see him at work and then-”

“You’re spiraling,” George said sharply, “We have Aurors looking out for us, and there haven’t been any attacks for a while. Things might be dying down now. It’ll probably all be over before we know it,” 

“Do you think you could fight another war?”

“Merlin, no. But I would, if I had to. For the kids,” 

Lydia nodded, “It just feels different now, doesn’t it? Last time, I didn’t think I was going to survive, but I was OK with that but now...I can’t leave the kids behind. I know what it’s like to grow up without parents and the last thing I want is for them to know what it’s like. And for Teddy to lose even more...” she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, “but I can’t lose you or Harry or Ron or Hermione or...god forbid one of the kids...”

“I know,” George said quietly, “I don’t want to leave the kids, and I don’t want you to go dying on me either. We’ve all had our fair share of loss,” 

Lydia scoffed, “Understatement of the year,” 

“Somehow, I think we’re going to be fine,” George said, “this time, there’s no Voldemort, no death eaters and no incompetent Minister for Magic,” 

“Yeah,” Lydia said, “We’ve got the upper hand this time,” 

“For the first time ever,”

They fell into silence again and Lydia poured herself another glass of wine, thinking. There had been a time in her life where she would have probably gone and hunted down the Dark Order herself and sorted them out once and for all, but now that she was a parent, everything was different. And yet, being a parent made her want to do that even more. 

“Georgie?”

“Yeah?”

“You know the Dark Order?”

“Unfortunately,”

“If they put a hand on any of the kids, I’ll kill them,”

“I don’t doubt it,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!
> 
> I'm really sorry about how long it's taken me to update, I wrote a whole chapter, decided I hated it and then had to start all over again, but it's finally here! I also just missed writing in Lydia's POV. 
> 
> <3


	30. Summer Ball

“Mione, please,  _ please  _ don’t make me do this,”

“Lydia, don’t be ridiculous,” Aunt Hermione said impatiently. 

“I’m not!” Lydia said, “for the love of God and Merlin and all the other big ones...don’t make me do this,” 

“What’s going on?” Teddy asked, walking into the room, “oh, by the way, mum, there a lot of very angry anti-werewolf protesters threatening to sue you in the Auditorium,”

“That’s the third time they’ve threatened to sue me this week!” Lydia exclaimed.  

“It’s Tuesday,” Rose said, frowning. 

“I know, I just really get on peoples nerves,”

They were at the Ministry of Magic after Lydia had read something quite alarming in the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. Lily found the whole thing quite amusing. 

“Mum is holding a summer ball,” Rose said to Teddy. 

“Oh, fun!” Teddy exclaimed. 

Lydia groaned and slumped in her chair. 

“It’s  _ not  _ fun,” she muttered, “do you know how painful this is going to be for me? I’m going to have to speak to so many people! I’m going to have to be _nice_ to so many people!”

Aunt Hermione rolled her eyes. 

“I can get you out of any Ministry event, just not this one. It’s important that you come. It’s important that every one comes!” she said, “it’ll be good for the morale of the country. Besides, a lot of people have already said yes. So if you say no, you’ll look like a terrible person,”

“Hermione when has that ever bothered me?” Lydia asked. 

Aunt Hermione ignored her and looked through some papers on her desk. 

“Luna and her husband have said yes, and we haven’t seen them for about two years! Daphne and Orville are coming, Dean and Seamus are too. Most of the DA, actually...even Pansy Parkinson is coming!”

“Pansy Parkinson?” Lydia repeated, “Pansy bloody Parkinson?”

“I know her son,” Lily said, “Simon.” 

“You don’t know Simon’s mum though,” Lydia muttered darkly, “I never got on with her!  _ We  _ never get on with her! Remember when she wanted to give me and Harry up to Voldemort?”

“There was a lot of people who wanted to give you and Harry up to Voldemort,” Aunt Hermione said bluntly, “and when you go and see her, you will be civil with her because we aren’t teenagers anymore. We’re adults,”

“I really don’t have a choice, do I?” Lydia sighed. 

“No,” Aunt Hermione said brightly, “because I’m the Minister for Magic and everything I say is final!”

“I’m treating this as an excuse to go shopping,” 

“As long as you take an Auror, you can do what you want,” 

 

—

 

Lily stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom and tried her best to not feel absolutely ridiculous. She felt as though she was the only girl in the world who didn’t suit dress robes, and absentmindedly tugged on the pale yellow fabric, wondering if it was too late to change. The fact that she had not been able to successfully tame her hair was not at all helping her in feeling better about herself. 

“You look beautiful, Lils,” Lydia said, walking up behind her and kissing her head.

Annoyingly, she was wearing green dress robes that she did not look ridiculous in. 

“I don’t like dress robes,” Lily replied, “or my hair,” 

Lydia smiled at her, “Your hair is lovely. It adds character,”

“You’re just saying that,” 

“I’m not! You look lovely,” Lydia laughed, “everyone hates dress robes, but you get used to them. Or you turn into Teddy and only ever wear Muggle clothes,”

“But I look good!” Teddy said, popping his head into the room, “dad says hurry up or we’ll be late,”

“We’ll be two minutes,”

Teddy disappeared for a couple of minutes and then popped his head back around the door. 

“Dad says that he knows that's a lie but he’s going to pretend you’re telling the truth,” 

By the time they eventually left the house, they were running ten minutes late and had missed the opening ceremony. Though Lily had the sneaking suspicion that Lydia had purposely taken a while to get out of the house just so they would miss it. The Aurors that they were travelling with then held them up even more because they kept on stopping to make sure that there was no one lurking near them who shouldn’t have been, so when they finally got to the ball, the party was in full swing. 

“Oh, Merlin,” Lydia muttered, “I didn’t realise that there’d be that many people here,”

“Time to socialise then, dear,” George said brightly, “Would you like to speak to Pansy Parkinson now or later?” 

“Get me a glass of champagne and I’ll consider it,” she sighed, “on second thoughts, Professor Slughorn is walking over, so I’ll go and the champagne myself. Come on, Lily,” 

On the way over to the bar, they got ambushed by many people who seemed very keen to speak to them. A number of people felt the need to tell Lily that they hadn’t seen her since she was a baby, so she definitely wouldn’t recognise them or exclaim how much she looked like her mother. 

“You could be sisters!”

“Yes, well, relatives tend to look like each other,” Lydia laughed, “that’s how biology works!”

“Lydia-"

“Yes, I know, it’s amazing how much Lily has grown and how much she looks like - oh, hi, Daph,” Lydia shook her head, “Sorry, I thought you were going to say-”

“How amazing it is that Lily has grown up and how much she looks like you?” 

“Yeah,”

Daphne sighed, “I was actually going to say it’s amazing how much she doesn’t look like George,” she turned to Lily and winked, hugging her, “How’s school?”

“Great. Yeah. I’ve really enjoyed not being able to leave the castle. It’s been a lot of fun,” 

“You know, when your mum wasn’t allowed to go to Hogsmeade, she snuck in anyway,”

“Daphne!” Lydia exclaimed, “this is different! No one was after-”

“There was a mass murderer after you,”

“A wrongly accused mass murderer who wasn’t actually out to kill me,” Lydia corrected. She turned to Lily, “Don’t get any ideas,"

“How do you even sneak into Hogsmeade?” Lily asked, frowning before the answer came to her, “oh! It’s all on the Marauders-”

Before Lily could finish what she was saying, Daphne swore under her breath and suddenly looked like a deer in headlights. At first, Lily was gripped with the fear that something awful had happened but then Daphne forced a smile onto her face. 

“Pansy!” she exclaimed, “it’s been - it’s been so long...how are you?”

“Fine,” Pansy replied, “I heard about Astoria. I’m sorry to hear that,”

Daphne smiled awkwardly, “Yes, well, it happens.”

“Do you want some champagne?” Lydia asked, clearly trying to diffuse the tension, “it’s really quite nice,” 

“Thank-you, Pott - Lydia,” Pansy said. She glanced down at Lily, “So, this is your daughter? She looks like an awful lot like you,” 

“I think I can see Hugo over there,” Lily lied, “I’m going to go and speak to him,” 

Quite happy to get away from what would definitely be an awkward conversation, Lily wandered around for a few minutes, trying to find someone to talk to. Everyone who looked her way seemed to be someone she definitely did not want to speak to. Hannah and Alex had written to her to tell her that they would be coming, but they were nowhere to be seen. 

“Lily?” 

She turned around to find one of Luna’s sons smiling at her. The only issue was that she couldn’t remember which one it was. They were the same age but he and his twin brother had never attended Hogwarts, and instead got their education from travelling around the room with their parents. 

“Oh, hi, um...Lorcan,” 

He smiled at her, “Good guess,” 

“Sorry,” she said, feeling her cheeks go slightly red, “I’m not very good with twins,”

“Isn’t your mum a twin? And your dad?

“Mum has a twin brother and my dads brother isn’t around for us to mix them up,” she said, shrugging, “my dad also has one ear which sort of...gives it away,”

“And I’m taller than Lysander, but don’t bring it up to him or he’ll get pissy with me,” he grinned, “You look nice, by the way,” 

“Oh,” Lily said, slightly taken aback, “Yeah. Thanks. It’s...a dress...”

“It is,” he said, laughing slightly, “I heard about all this Dark Order thing. Must suck,”

She shrugged, “It isn’t great but I’m sure my Aunt Hermione will sort it out at some point,” 

“I hope so. For you,” he looked around when someone shouted his name, “that will be my Grandad desperate to tell me about how many Wrackspurts there are floating around,”

“Wrackspurts?” Lily asked. 

“They float around and make your brain go fuzzy,” he said, “Quite annoying, actually,”

Lily wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. 

“Right, well, I’ll see you around Lorcan,”

“You will, actually,” he said brightly, “Lysander and I are coming to Hogwarts next year. Mum’s been drawn back to England after everything with the Dark Order. See you in September,” 

Lily watched him walk away, rather feeling like there was a record number of Wrackspurts in her brain. This feeling very quickly came to an end, however, when Hannah, Alex and Hugo all descended on her, giggling. 

“Who was that?” Hannah asked. 

“One of Luna’s sons!” Hugo giggled, “Can’t remember which one though. Which one was it?”

She was saved from having to answer by the door bursting open. Lydia suddenly appeared at Lily’s shoulder with Fred, but nothing seemed to have happened and the grip on her shoulder relaxed, but then screams rose in the air all around them. 

“What the fuck,” Lydia muttered, looking around, “what’s going on?”

“Who are those people?” Alex asked, pointing over Lydia’s shoulder. 

“Oh, shit, get behind me,  _ now,”  _ Lydia commanded, shoving them behind her. 

Lily tripped over her dress and fell into Fred, who held her up as three people in dark robes advanced on them, their wands raised. Behind her, Fred drew his wand but Lydia shoved his wand down. 

“Don’t you dare,” she snapped, whirling back around to face the dark robed wizards. 

“Fucking hell,” Hugo muttered, “I didn’t know she could duel like _ that,”  _

Lily could not help but gasp as she watched her mother duel. She moved so quickly that she was practically a blur and within minutes, there were three crumpled bodies on the floor, all groaning in pain. 

Lydia spun back around to face them, her eyes wide. 

“Stick close to me, don’t let go of each other and under no circumstances are you to start a duel,” she said. 

“I’m old enough to-” Fred began but she cut him off. 

“You are not duelling anyone,” Lydia snapped, “I can take everyone on on my own, understood?”

“Fine,” he muttered, but he seemed rather pissed off about it. 

Lily gripped onto Fred and Hannah’s hands as though her life depended on it, and there was every chance that her life did actually depend on it. As they ran through the ballroom, ducking under curses and hexes, Lily couldn’t help but be amazed by her mother as she shot off curses left right and center. Lily always knew that Lydia was able to duel her way out of any situation, but she had never realised how ferocious she could be. 

“There’s Teddy!” Fred yelled, pointing ahead. In doing so, he let go of Lily’s hand. 

“Mum!” Teddy yelled, running over to her, “I don’t know where dad is! I was with him and then he disappeared and I - Lily! Watch out!”

Arm wrapped around Lily’s middle and yanked her backwards. Hannah screamed and tried to keep grip of her hand, but whoever had hold of her was much stronger and Lily could do nothing but watch in horror as her family disappeared into the crowd. 

“Remember me?” a voice said in her ear before throwing her to the ground, “it was ever so nice of you to show me to the Hoggs Head that day,”

Tears pricked her eyes as she struggled to her feet and looked at the man who she was quite sure was going to kill her. 

“Please, just leave me alone, please,” 

He smirked at her. 

“Lily dear, you know I could never do that,” he said in a horribly patronising way and twirling his wand between his fingers, “after all, you’re alive and the Dark Lord isn’t. How is that fair?”

“Please, please, don’t. Just leave me alone. Leave me alone. Leave me alone,” 

_ “Crucio,”  _

Lily squeezed her eyes hut, expecting the worst, but the pain never came. Instead, an awful scream reached her ears and she opened her eyes to see Lydia stood in front of her, keeled over. 

“Christ, I forgot how much that hurt,” she gasped, “Fucking hell,” 

“Why is it that every time I see you, you’re stood in front of one of your children?” Corvus asked, “are you so desperate to live up to the legacy of your own mother that you want to sacrifice yourself for one of them? Are you still so haunted by what you did in the war that you’re desperate to prove that you’re not as dark of a witch as everyone says you are?” 

“You were about to torture my daughter,” Lydia hissed. 

“Well, yes,”

“Which is quite brave, considering how dark you think I am,” she said, “I could kill you without even batting an eyelid,” 

“Would you do that in front of your darling daughter, though?” he asked, “or have you given up pretending that mummy is the honourable saviour of the Wizarding World?”

_ “Depulso!” _ Lydia yelled. 

Lily could not bear to watch the fight. She gripped onto the back of Lydia’s robes and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to distract herself in whatever way she could but it was quite difficult because all she could do was wonder on how earth she and Uncle Harry managed to deal with being in situations like this when they were so young. 

Suddenly, silence fell across the room and Lily opened her eyes, scanning the room for the Dark Order, but they all seemed to have disappeared. 

“Where - where have they gone?” Lily asked. 

“Disapparated,” Lydia said quietly. She turned around to face Lily, tears streaming down her face, “Are you alright, love?”

Lily looked up at her mum and burst into tears as her knees buckled. She felt Lydia drop to her knees beside her and wrapped her arms around her, stroking her hair. She whispered that everything was going to be OK over and over again, telling her that they would get through this. 

Lily just wished she had it in her to believe a word her mother was saying. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!
> 
> Feedback is, as always, appreciated <3


	31. Delightfully Weird and Delightfully Attractive

Lily stood next to Teddy in a shocked silence in Aunt Hermione’s office. She and the rest of the family had been herded up to the Ministers office in an attempt to get away from the rest of the guests, all of whom were being questioned about any involvement they might have had in the attack. Lily found that she didn’t really care who had been involved. She just wanted to go home and pretend that the day had never happened.  

The door opened and the Deputy Minister for Magic, Geraldine Cravers, walked in, looking very stressed. 

“Everyone is now being sent home,” she said, “very few casualties and no one dead,” 

“Maybe I should step down,” Aunt Hermione sighed. 

“Don’t do that, Hermione,” Cravers said quickly, “You’re the best Minister we’ve ever had. And I’m not just saying that because we work together. You've achieved things even Kingsley Shacklebolt couldn't," 

“But Corvus escaped,” Aunt Hermione hissed, slamming her hand on her desk, “under  _ my   _ Ministry! These are my children! My nieces and nephews! If something were to happen to one of them-”

“That's not going to happen, love,” Uncle Ron said, “You know that,” 

“Do we know that, Ronald?” Aunt Hermione snapped, “What do we know about anything? You  _ still  _ think we know what’s coming? Did we know what was coming in the last war? Did we expect George to get captured? Did we expect Fred to get killed? Did we expect Lydia to have to die?” she groaned and ran a hand through her hair, “I need to go and see my Aurors. No one leave this room until I come back,”

“Why not?” Uncle Harry asked. 

“Because someone betrayed us tonight and I’m pretty sure that whoever it is wants to murder everyone in this room,” 

“I’m pretty sure that leaving us all in one confined space is more dangerous,” Hugo muttered, but only so that Lily could hear. 

“What was that, Hugo?”

“Nothing, mum!”

 

—

 

The prospect of a summer holiday with everything that was going on seemed a little strange, but Lily was not really in the position to be declining a holiday to the south of France. Besides, she knew that they were only leaving the country in a desperate attempt to get away from the Dark Order. The Ministry had completely lost track of them, and that made sleeping at night a lot more difficult than it should have been. 

When they arrived in France, they were greeted by Uncle Bill and Louis, both of whom seemed very happy to see them all unscathed. At once, Louis hurried over to Lily and Hugo and enveloped them in a massive hug that almost knocked them off their feet. 

“We’re fine, Lou,” Lily said, yelping slightly as she almost fell over. 

“Speak for yourself, I can’t breathe,” Hugo gasped, wrestling out of Louis grip. 

“Sorry!” he said, “I’ve been panicking!”

“They’re alright, Lou,” Uncle Bill said, hugging Lily.

She did not miss the fact that he hugged her a little tighter and for a little longer than he usually would. 

Life in France perhaps wasn’t as bad as Lily had thought that it would have been, even though she was quite bitter about the fact that would be unable to see Hannah and Alex. The Ministry had set them up in some very nice houses that weren’t too far away from where Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur lived, and the weather was considerably nicer compared to what they would have gotten back home. Lily and Hugo also got to experience Louis struggling to keep up with any conversation that was had in French. 

“You know, I don’t know why you complain so much about having to come here every summer, Louis,” Teddy said, he was lay flat on his back and sunbathing, “it’s the full moon tonight and, for the first time in my life, I don’t feel that bad. James was being really loud this morning and I didn't even _feel_ like hitting him. Still did though," he added, "but that's because he hit me first," 

“You try spending your entire summer in a country where you can’t speak the language!” Louis snapped, “do you know how embarrassing it is when everyone but you can speak French?”

“Dad can’t speak French,” Vicky pointed out, “he just pretends he can,”

“Dad isn’t half French,” Louis said, “I am.”

“Aunt Gabrielle always says that she’ll teach you,” Dominique said, “and then you never take her up on the offer,” 

“I know, but Aunt Gabrielle is an actual teacher and teachers stress me out,” Louis sighed. 

“I get that,” Teddy said, “teachers _ are  _ stressful,” 

Vicky rolled her eyes, “You’re both only saying that because neither of you like the school part of school,” 

“The school part of school, also known as the important part of school,” Dominique said. 

Teddy groaned and covered his face with his hands. 

“You two become one million times more annoying when you’re together,”

“Thank-you,” they both said in unison. 

And as much as Lily did enjoy being in France, she couldn’t help but find the fact that her entire family seemed completely OK with everything that had happened quite strange. Apart from the fact that Grandma Molly coddled them that little bit more and there were even more Aurors than usual, there was nothing to suggest that anything awful had happened prior to coming

If Aunt Hermione ever floo’d over at the end of the day, she would not mention anything about the Dark Order and no one would ask. Lydia smiled and laughed as though she  _ hadn’t  _ been hit with the Cruciatus Curse and even Fred acted as though he had not witnessed their mother take down three members of the Dark Order like it was nothing. 

They were all acting like it was nothing. 

And Lily was starting to think that maybe she had been overreacting about what had happened. But whenever someone hugged her, she could not help but be reminded of the feeling of Corvus’ arms around her. When James jumped out from behind the couch and made Fred scream, Lily thought that the Dark Order had somehow found them again. 

It was always worse at night, though. When she was completely alone, her brain would wander to places that she did not want it to wander to. Corvus’ voice would reverberate around her brain, only for it to be blocked out by her mother screaming in pain. When she would eventually fall asleep, her nightmares were plagued with the sounds of battle, her mum screaming and the Corvus’ face. 

The only people who Lily really wanted to speak to were on the other side of the Resurrection Stone, and she really wasn’t in the position to be using that anytime soon. So she could do nothing but countdown the days until she got back to school and just hoped that she would be able to use it as soon as possible. 

“Your Hogwarts letter is here, sweetheart,” George said to Lily one morning after another restless nights sleep. 

“Thanks,” Lily said, taking it off him and opening it. 

As she took the letter out of the envelope, she realised that there was an extra bit of parchment. Assuming that it was something about the fact that she would not be able to go to Hogsmeade that year either, Lily opened it. 

_ “Dear Miss Weasley,  _

_ I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to serve as Prefect for Slytherin House. Your school record shows that you are an exemplary student who has the ability to make strong friendships, perform well in your classes and bring nothing but good fortune to not only your house, but your school  _

_ I am certain that you will continue to be a model for your peers and will take all responsibilities as Prefect very seriously. Your Prefects Badge should be worn on your robes at all times.  _

_ Congratulations! _

_ Sincerely,  _

_ Horace Slughorn _

_ Head of Slytherin House,” _

Not quite believing what she was reading, Lily snatched the envelope off the table and looked into it, finding a small green badge, on which a snake curled around the letter ‘P’.

“Uh, dad?” 

“Yeah?” he asked, flicking through the paper.

“I’ve been made Prefect,” 

George’s head snapped up and his face split into a wide grin. 

“Well done!” he exclaimed, kissing her on the cheek, “I’m not really that surprised. You are old Sluggy’s favourite, aren’t you?”

“What aren’t you surprised about?” Lydia asked, walking into the kitchen carrying her broomstick, “I can’t play Quidditch against James anymore. He’s too fast,”

“Lily is the new Slytherin prefect!” George announced proudly. 

Lydia gasped loudly and ran over to her, throwing her arms around her. Immediately, Lily stiffened in her arms but she did not think her mum had noticed for she had began to cry. 

“Prefect!” she said, “that’s everyone in the family!”

“Apart from me,” George pointed out, “everyone in the family, with the exception of me,” 

Lydia completely ignore him. 

“Oh, wait till your brothers hear!” she grinned, “I’m so proud, Lily, so proud,” 

When everyone did hear, Lily felt like they might have been overreacting slightly. When everyone later discovered that Hugo had also been made prefect, the entire family were acting as though they had both singlehandedly brought about world peace. It as such a big deal, in fact, that even Aunt Hermione managed to find time to take an entire afternoon off work to come and celebrate with them. 

“Well done, kid,” Uncle Draco said, walking over to her whilst Uncle Charlie and Aunt Ginny argued over to the best way to light a barbecue, “You’re going to have to live up to the legacy of the greatest Slytherin Prefect to ever exist, though,”

“I didn’t know that Daphne was a prefect,” Lily said. 

He laughed and shook his head, “She probably would have been better than me. I’m pretty sure I did my Prefect duty properly for about a year and three months,”

“I just hope that I get to have most of my Prefect duty with Hugo,” 

“I had mine with your mum in sixth year,” he said, “and that was when we didn't like each other, it did not go well. I think it usually ended up with one us storming away from the other,”

“Why would they put you on Prefect Duty together if they knew you didn’t like each other?” Lily asked, frowning. 

“I have no idea. I think the Head Boy and Head Girl at the time just wanted to start issues,” he shrugged, “which they did,” he added. 

“All I’m getting from this conversation is that I need to be a better Prefect than you were,” 

“You need to be a better  _ everything  _ than I was,” Uncle Draco said, “You’re probably already better at making Potions than I am,”

“Which is quite worrying, because that’s a big part of your job,” Lily said, deciding not to tell him about the fact that her Potions grade had been suffering massively. 

“I never said I was bad, I just said you were better,”

“Hey, Lils, did you know that Luna’s twins are starting Hogwarts next year?” Lydia asked, walking over to them, “Percy just said they were,”

“Oh,” Lily said, having completely forgot about the conversation she had had with Lorcan, “Yeah, Lorcan told me,” 

Behind Lydia, Hugo gave her a very significant look. If it weren’t for the fact that she was stood in front of her mother, Lily would have stuck her middle finger up at them. 

“I’ve always liked Lorcan and Lysander,” Lydia said, “they’re just so delightfully weird. It’s what I love about Luna,”

Delightfully weird and delightfully attractive, Lily thought to herself. 


	32. More Likely to be Killed by a Plant in the Greenhouse

“And the schedule for Prefect duty will be posted on the the notice boards in your common rooms, so make sure that you make a copy for yourself. Any questions?” the Head Girl asked.

Lily stood next to Hugo and Alex, who had also been made prefect, in the Prefects carriage on the Hogwarts Express. She had tried her best to listen to what the Head Girl and Head Boy had had to say, but it was quite difficult to pay attention to them when everyone seemed to be staring rather intently at her. No one seemed to have grown tired about talking about the ball, which only meant that Lily would have to put up with it until Halloween, at least.

The only slightly good thing that had come out of it was that Professor McGonagall had agreed to let them go to Hogsmeade again; there had not been another attack since and she was trying to force some sense of normalcy back into the school despite the fact that nothing felt normal.

“Alright,” the Head Boy said, “that’s everything, then. The first Prefect meeting will be on the September 14th at half past seven in classroom 12A. Don’t be late,”

“Something tells me that I am definitely going to be late for that,” Alex muttered as he lead the way back down the train to find Hannah and Louis.

“If you don’t lose your badge by Christmas it’ll be a miracle,” Hugo said.

“The fact that I even got this badge in the first place is a miracle,” he sighed, “When I told my mum, she actually turned to me and said, “are you sure it’s meant for you?””

“I was going to say that that was a cruel question, but it’s actually a valid one,” Lily said, “I didn’t think that Slughorn liked you,”

“I didn’t think that Slughorn liked me, either!” Alex exclaimed, “maybe this is my best bet into getting into Slug Club,”

“If you want to join so desperately, you can take my place,” Hugo said when they finally found Hannah and Louis, “I’d rather gouge my eyes out than have to sit through that shit for another year,”

“Always the optimist, Hugo,” Hannah said brightly, “how was the Prefects meeting?”

“Strangely enough, something that made _me_ want to gouge my eyes out,” Alex said, “but I’m going to start taking points off people for the fun of it,”

“I don’t think you can do that,” Louis said, taking a spider out of his pocket and causing Hannah to almost jump three feet into the air out of fear.

“ _Why_ do you insist on carrying animals around with you?” Hannah asked, sitting as far away from him as possible, “it’s ridiculous,”

“It’s a spider, actually,”

“I have a genuine dislike for you,” Hannah said, before turning to Lily.

“So, are you going to go to Hogsmeade this year?”

“Um, probably,” Lily replied, slightly taken aback, “I mean, if you lot are, I most likely will,”

Hannah nodded, but Lily could tell that something was bothering her.

“What is it, Han?”

She suddenly looked awkward and shrugged her shoulders.

“I know I’m just being stupid, but the Summer Ball thing happened the day after my sisters anniversary,” she mumbled, “and it got me thinking...what if something happens to you, too? Or Hugo? Or Louis? I don’t want to - I don’t want to lose anyone else,”

Silence fell across their compartment, and Lily suddenly had no idea what to say. Hannah very rarely spoke about her sister, and no one ever pushed her to do so.

“Nothing's going to happen to us, Hannah,” Hugo said, finally breaking the silence, “No one is going to let that happen?”

“How can you be sure though?” she asked.

“Because...because...” he trailed off, looking confused.

“Because we’re going back to Hogwarts,” Louis said confidently, “we’ll be safe at Hogwarts. And Hogsmeade will probably be crawling with Aurors, anyway,”

“Yeah!” Hugo said, “Yeah. My mum said there’ll be loads. We’ll be fine,”

“Can we just pretend that the Summer Ball never happened?” Alex asked, shuddering slightly, “And panic about our OWLs like normal people?”

“Yeah,” Louis said, “We’re more more likely to be killed by a plant in the Greenhouse than the Dark Order,”

The rest of the journey to school was considerably more cheerful. When the sweet lady came, they bought more food than was probably healthy to eat and then proceeded to do nothing but talk about all the exams that they were definitely going to fail. Lily was convinced that she was going to fail everything but Potions, Hugo was sure that he’d probably pass most things and Alex was still undecided on whether he was actually going to turn up to any of the exams or not. All Hannah really cared about was Quidditch and Louis was too invested in his spider to listen to anything else that anyone was saying.

By the time they were in the carriages on the way up to Hogwarts, Lily was in the best mood that she had been all summer. And Louis was right; they were safe at Hogwarts. There was no way that anyone would be able to reach them whilst they were in the castle. Her mood wasn’t even ruined when Professor Jowell was the first teacher she saw.

“Only one more year left looking at that face for three hours after week,” Lily sighed happily as they passed him in the Entrance Hall, “and then you will never find me in a Transfiguration classroom ever again,”

“I think I’m going to miss the mini breakdowns you have during the lessons,” Alex said, “it’s always something to look forward to, isn’t it?”

“Miss Potter! Miss Potter!”

They looked around in confusion as Professor McGonagall hurried over to them.

“Who are you looking for, Professor?” Alex asked.

“Oh, Miss Weasley, I do apologise,” Professor McGonagall said, shaking her head, “I didn’t mean to call you Miss Potter,”

“It’s fine,” Lily said, fighting to hide her annoyance, “it happens all of the time,”

“I would like to speak to you and Mr Granger-Weasley,” she said, pointing at them both, “hurry along now, you three,”

Lily and Hugo exchanged looks at Louis, Hannah and Alex walked away, all looking quite confused. Lily assumed that she wanted to talk to them about the Summer Ball, which was a conversation that she had been hoping to avoid.

“Now, you both know Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, don’t you?” she asked, gesturing for them to walk with her.

“Yeah,” Hugo said, “family friends, why do - oh, they’re starting at Hogwarts, aren’t they?”

McGonagall nodded, “Yes. I’ve just had them sorted. I felt as though having them being sorted with the first years would be cruel,”

Lily inwardly laughed at the thought of two fifteen year olds being stood amongst the tiny eleven year olds.

“And since you’re both Prefects, and they have been sorted into your respective house, I thought it would be prudent for you to show them around the castle,” McGonagall continued, stopping outside her office and saying the password to the stone Gargoyle (Dumbledore).

“So, um, which one is in which house?” Lily asked, trying to sound casual about it.

“Lorcan is in Slytherin, and Lysander is in Ravenclaw,” McGonagall told her, “at least then we’ll have some hope of telling them apart,”

Lily did not fully realise how identical they actually were until she saw them. She had always thought that twins looked less and less like each other as they got older, but this was not the case for Lorcan and Lysander. The more Lily looked at them, the more confused she got and she had to keep on glancing down at their school ties to make sure that she knew which was which.

“Yeah, I get why you have a crush on Lorcan,” Hugo whispered to Lily.

“ _I do not_ ,” she hissed, hitting him in the arm.

“Is everything OK, you two?” Professor McGonagall asked, turning to them with raised eyebrows.

“Fine, Professor,” Hugo said, grinning.

“You four already know each other, don’t you?” Professor McGonagall asked.

“Yeah,” Lorcan said, smiling at Lily.

“I’m glad. Starting a new school can be scary, especially when you’re starting later,” McGonagall said, walking behind her desk and bringing out their timetables, “you will all have the same schedule, so there’ll be no getting lost, Misters Scamander,”

“Does that mean we don’t have an excuse for getting late?” Lysander asked.

“That means you don’t have an excuse for getting late,” McGonagall replied, “but I’m sure that when you are eventually late, you’ll have a very believable excuse,”

Lysander sighed and nodded, “Got it,”

McGonagall regarded him for a moment and then turned back to Lily and Hugo.

“You two will show them to your respective common rooms and show them how things work,”

Hugo nodded, “That’s fine but can we get food first or-”

“You have my permission to get food from the kitchens,” McGonagall told him, “would you like to pretend that I don’t know that you know how to get into the kitchens, or shall we just ignore the fact that you’re more than aware of how to get into a forbidden part of the castle?”

“I think the second option would be the best,”

“I do too, Mr Granger-Weasley,” McGonagall said, smiling at him.

“Is she always that scary?” Lorcan asked once they got out of the office.

“Yes,” Lily said, “you get used to it after a while,”

“Great,” Lorcan said, “I can’t wait,”

“Well, Ravenclaw is this way so...see you two tomorrow,” Hugo said, waggling his eyebrows at Lily.

“Is he OK?” Lorcan asked, frowning slightly.

“He’s just...weird,” Lily said, “you’ll learn to block him out,”

When they started walking towards the dungeons, Lily suddenly felt awkward and had no idea what she was meant to say to him. The only thing that they had in common was the Summer Ball, and that wasn’t really a thing that Lily wanted to talk about. And she was slightly worried that she would start to have a panic attack if he brought it up.

“How am I meant to find my way around this place?” Lorcan asked, breaking the silence, “it’s _massive_ ,”

“I know,” Lily said, thankful to be able to jump at a subject to talk about, “but you’ll get used to it,”

“So, I’ll get used to McGonagall being scary, Hugo being weird and not knowing how to get around the castle?” he asked.

Lily felt herself go red and looked at the floor. 

“You’ll have to get used to a lot,” Lily laughed as they came to a stop outside the common room, “like the fact that our common room is behind a brick wall and....I do not know the password,”

“This is going well,” Lorcan said.

“We can just go and get food from the kitchens until we find someone to let us in,” Lily said, leading the way back up to the basement, “having a password is better than being in Ravenclaw and having to answer a riddle every time you want to go to bed,”

“Is it true that they if you don’t know the password you have to wait until someone turns up who does?” Lorcan asked.

“Yeah,” Lily said, “Ravenclaws are weird,”

“I always thought my mum was lying when she - that’s a lot of House Elves,”

He stood on the threshold of the kitchen as all the House Elves bowed to them and immediately began to run around and put some food together for them.

“Lovely to see you, Miss Weasley,” Kreacher said, bending into a deep bow, “is there anything I can get for you?”

“Bits of everything really,” Lily said, “Thanks, Kreacher,”  

“You’re on a first name basis with House-Elves?” Lorcan asked.

“Only him, really,” Lily shrugged, “he’s technically the family elf, he just works here,”

“I can’t wait for Care of Magical Creatures,” he said excitedly, "It's the one subject that I'm definitely going to pass thanks to Granddad Newt!"

Lily decided not to tell him that most people spent their Care of Magical Creatures lessons laughing at the name Scamander. 

“I don’t think we’ll be studying Wrackspurts this year, so don’t get excited,” Lily said, taking a tray of food off Kreacher and thinking him.

Lorcan laughed, “I won’t tell Granddad Xenophilius that. He might be slightly disappointed,”

“Almost as disappointed as when I told my Grandad that I wasn’t going to be taking Muggle Studies,” Lily said as they left the kitchen.

“I, uh, I heard about what happened at the Ball,” he said, somewhat awkwardly, “We just managed to get out. You weren’t hurt, were you?”

Lily looked away from him for a moment and pretended to reorganise the food on the tray.

“No,” she said, still not looking at him, ““No. Everything was fine. My mum was there, she sorted it out,”

“Sorry,” he said hastily, “Sorry, I didn't mean to make you - I felt bad for not bringing it up but now I feel even worse for bringing it up,”

“It’s fine, I highly doubt that you’re going to be the last person to ask,” she said, looking up at him, “People will start asking you awkward questions about your Granddad though, don’t worry,”

“Granddad Xenophilius or Granddad Newt?”

“Scamander, probably,” Lily said, “Unless they’re an avid reader of the Quibbler. Which my best friend is, actually, so watch out,”

On the one occasion that she had met Newt Scamander, she had been quite sure that she would never meet anyone as strange as him ever again. But that had been before she had met Xenophilius Lovegood. Now, she just thought that they were both equally strange but for very different reasons.

By the time they had gotten back to the dungeons, they found Alex and Hannah stood outside the common room.

“Where’ve you been?” Hannah asked, “I’ve been waiting out here for ages waiting for you!”

“We haven’t even been here five minutes,” Louis said. He looked over at Lorcan and waved.

“Hi, Lorc - Lysan - Scamander. Hi, Scamander,”

“Lorcan,” he said, “I’m slightly taller, and he’s in Ravenclaw,”

Hannah looked at him curiously for a few moments.

“If I become friends with you, do I get a free subscription to The Quibbler?”

“Um-”

“Leave him alone, Hannah,” 

“I’m just saying that when he gets his inheritance and buys a nice house with it, he should remember who paid for it,”

“Don’t worry,” Louis said to a slightly confused Lorcan, “we all want to punch her sometimes,”

When Lily got in bed that night, she didn’t even think about the fact that she had not thought about the Resurrection Stone once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank-you for reading!
> 
> Also, just a PSA, I've got a new job with longer hours, so I don't know if I will be able to update as regularly as I have been recently, especially since I also go to college. So, if it's been a while and I haven't updated, I haven't abandoned the fic, I'm probably sleeping/just writing it/doing both at the same time. 
> 
> <3


	33. First Week Back

Lily had managed to get through the whole first week of school without using the Stone, but it was causing her a great deal of stress. For some reason, the Tale of the Three Brothers was sticking out in her mind, as though her brain was trying to tell her something.  But that still didn’t stop the yearning she felt to use it almost every day that she woke up.

Perhaps the reason that she wasn’t using it was because Hannah had mentioned her sister, which had awoken a memory that Lily had forgotten about. It was the start of their fourth year when they were still having that ridiculous argument about the Stone and had bumped into each other when Lily was sneaking back from the Forbidden Forest.

_“Lily!”_

_Lily jumped and turned around to find Hannah stood there. The first thing Lily noticed about her was how terrible she looked. There were deep bags under her eyes and her skin was worryingly pale. Her robes seemed to be hanging off her and her hair looked a mess. She did not at all look how she usually did._

_“Hannah, what's-”_

_“Have you just been in the Forest? I didn't see you at the feast,”_

_“Yes, I have,” Lily said, holding her head up, “What's wrong with that?”_

_“What's wrong with - are you seriously asking me that, right now? After everything I told you about the Tale of the Three Brothers last year?” Hannah snapped, “People kill themselves over shit like this, Lily!”_

_“I’m aware of that, thanks, but even though the world and his wife seemed to think that I'm going to kill myself, I'm actually not!” Lily yelled, “You just don't get it!”_

_“Oh yeah, Lily, I don't understand it at all, do I? I have no idea what it's like to lose someone!” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, “It's not as though my dad died when I was eleven and my sister offed herself this summer because she couldn't deal with any of it!”_

_Lily was frozen on the spot, staring at her with wide eyes, “Wait, no, Hannah, I'm sorry, I had no idea-”_

_“Just fuck off, Lily, I don't want to talk about it with you,” and she stormed away from her._

That was still something that made her feel incredibly guilty, but also something that she couldn’t stop thinking about. Whenever she even thought about the using the Stone, Hannah’s voice would ring through her mind and it would put her off getting it out of her pocket.

“Um, what’s the Slug Club?” Lorcan asked, sitting next to her in the common room.

“What’s the what?” Lily asked, coming back down to earth.

“The Slug Club,” he said, holding up a piece of parchment, “I just got invited to it,”

“Oh,” Lily said sniggering, “Yeah, I thought you would. It’s a get together that Professor Slughorn puts on for, ‘Hogwarts best and brightest,’”

“Hogwarts best and brightest?” he repeated.

“It just means you have a famous relative,” she said, “hence why all of my cousins go, and why you will have got invited,”

“Oh, so it’s only because of my last name?”

“Basically,” Lily said, “some people get in because they’re actually talented or whatever, but I highly doubt I would not be there if it weren’t for the fact that my mum is my mum and my Uncle Harry is my Uncle Harry, you know?”

“Is there actually any point in going, then?”

Lily shrugged.

“You get loads of food and Slughorn is nicer to you in class, so...” she trailed off and shrugged again, “Potions is the only thing I’m good at, so I actively try and avoid getting in Slughorn’s bad books,”

“There is only one name in Slughorn's bad books and it’s mine,” Alex sighed, “He likes everyone else,”

“But he made you a Prefect, how can he dislike you?” Lorcan asked.

“Quidditch perks,” Alex said, “everyone loves Quidditch players. Do you play? We need a new Chaser,”

Lorcan looked slightly taken aback.

“I’ve played a few times. I don’t know if I’m any good,”

“You should tryout. You look like a Chaser,”

“Do I?”

“I actually have no idea,” Alex admitted, “someone just told me that I looked like a Beater once and that’s how I ended up on the team. I later found out that they meant that I looked like I’d been hid in the face with a Bludger one too many times because my nose is a funny shape,”

Lorcan agreed to tryout for the team, but Lily had a feeling that he only did so to shut Alex up.

—

“Is this really going to be awful?” Lorcan whispered to Lily as they sat down in Slug Club. 

“Probably,” she whispered back, “but I wouldn’t worry about it,”

“Welcome, welcome, everyone!” Slughorn said cheerfully, clapping his hands together, “Now, you might have noticed that we have two new faces today - Lorcan and Lysander Scamander! You’ll know their Grandfather - Newt Scamander and their _other_ Grandfather, Xenophilius Lovegood! Their mother, Luna Lovegood, fought alongside the Potters during the war, as well! An all around interesting family, if you ask me!” he chuckled jovially.

“So, boys, what was it like growing up in a family such as your own,”

“Um,” Lysander said, “it was...well, we’ve never known any different, really. We’ve been travelling with our parents, mainly, looking for different creatures and such,”

Slughorn smiled at him, “and what brought your family back home?”

“Mum wanted us to come to Hogwarts, I guess,” Lorcan said, “And I think she missed seeing all her friends,”

“Your mother was always a delight to have in the classroom,” Slughorn said fondly.

“And by that, he means she was weird as shit,” Lorcan whispered, “which she is, obviously,”

Hugo sniggered but quickly disguised it as a cough when Slughorn looked his way.

“How is your mother, Hugo?”

“Stressed,”  Hugo replied honestly, “but when isn’t she? And after everything that happened in the summer - well, you know...”

Lily looked down at her plate and tried her best to think about anything _but_ the summer, but whenever someone brought it up, she felt herself begin to spiral into a panic attack.

“You OK?” Lorcan whispered, nudging her gently.

She forced herself to look up and smiled at him.

“Fine.” she said, “Just tired. The usual,”

“And, Lily, dear, I must say that the essay you handed in on Wednesday was fantastic!” Slughorn beamed.

Lily felt herself go red and immediately wanted the ground to swallow her up.

“Thank-you, Professor,” she said.

“It really was something quite amazing!” he continued, “and it just reminded me exactly _why_ I wanted to make you the new Slytherin prefect! I truly think you would make a fantastic Potions Mistress at this school, one day. Is that something you’ve ever thought about?”

“I don’t know, maybe,” she said, “I don’t know if I’d be any good teaching-”

“Nonsense!” Slughorn interrupted, “I’m sure you’ll get an O in your OWL and eventually your NEWT!”

“I’ve not really thought about it,” Lily replied, wishing that he would move onto someone else.

Slughorn smiled at her, “You don’t half remind me of your mother right now. Incredibly modest and Slytherin prefect...”

“Oh no,” Hugo whispered, “why did he say that?”

Lily forced herself to continue smiling as he carried on with himself.

“You really, really are melding into your mother, not that that is bad thing of course!” he laughed, “Oh, no, if you were even half as successful as your mother it would-”

“I need to go,” Lily said suddenly, standing up.

“You need to go, dear?” Slughorn asked, frowning at her.

“Yeah. I need to go. I don’t - I don’t feel very well,” she said, and before anyone could call her back, she quickly hurried from the room, tears springing to her eyes.

And even though every fibre of her being was screaming at her to not do what she was thinking about doing, Lily found the nearest broom cupboard and locked herself in it, turning the Resurrection Stone over in her hands three times.

“I’m depressed,” she said, the moment her family appeared before her, “I’m depressed, and I really don’t know what to do. We were attacked at some stupid Summer Ball Aunt Hermione made us go to, I watched my mum get tortured by Corvus and all anyone wants me to do is be like her! And I’ve been made prefect and I don’t even want to be a prefect because that's just another bit of stress in my life that I don’t need and another thing that people can use to compare me to her!”

“Oh, darling, I wish we could help,” Lily Potter said softly, “but it’s so hard when you’re not here with us,”

“Yeah,” James said, “it’d be much easier if you were on our side,”

It was not until many hours later that Lily realised that that comment from James was rather odd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> <3


	34. Who Are You, Lily Weasley?

“What the fuck was that about?” Hugo demanded, storming into the common room. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily said, trying to turn back to her book but he yanked it out of her hands.

“You just had a mini freakout half way through Slug Club!” he exclaimed, “and then just left!” 

“The fact that you actually call it Slug Club physically pains me,” Alex sighed.

Then he frowned, “Wait, _you_ stormed out? I thought you and Sluggy were best buds?”

“I did not _storm,_ ” she said, “I just...left,”

Hugo rolled his eyes at her, “You stormed. Why?”

“I just don’t like how people always compare me to my mum, you know that! I just...I want to be able to do something without someone having to bring her up! Like, I get that I look like her but I’m _not_ her!”

Hugo sighed, “I know. I know that it’s annoying but you can’t storm out of a room every time someone brings her up to you!” 

“Watch me,” Lily muttered, holding out her hand, “Can I have my book back now, please?”

He gave it back to her by chucking it at her head. 

“Thank-you,”

 

—

  
  
“I do not like going to Hogsmeade this early in the year,” Hannah announced as they walked up to the village, “I feel like it’s Halloween,”

 “Well, it isn’t,” Hugo said bluntly, “it’s the fifteenth of September,”

 “You’re so annoying sometimes, you know that?” Hannah asked.

“Vaguely,” said Hugo, ducking under her hand as she tried to hit him, “do you want to go the Three Broomsticks now or later?”

“Now,” Louis said, “it’s the quickest way to shut Hannah up,”

“At least my best friend isn’t a fucking Porlock,”

“You’re friends with a Porlock?” Lysander asked.

“Paul the Porlock,” Louis said proudly, “he’s very sweet,” 

“You would really get on with our Grandad Newt,” Lorcan said. 

“For the love of Merlin, do _not_ encourage him,” Hannah muttered as Louis beamed behind her. 

When they arrived in the Three Broomsticks, Louis and Hannah were still bickering and Lily and Hugo hastened to get away from them, dragging Lorcan and Lysander with them. They pushed through the crowd and tried to find a tale, but the only relatively empty table was with David Addington-Oakes and his friend, Leo.

“Not sitting there,” Lily muttered, tugging on the sleeve of Hugo’s robes.

“If you’re still bitter about Dav-”

“Not him. Leo,”

“There’s nowhere else to sit. Get over it,” he said, before boldly walking over to the table and sitting down.

“Weasleys,” Leo said, nodding at them, “and, uh...” he glanced at the twins and frowned, “what are your names again?”

“Scamander,” Lysander said, “it’s actually a very easy name to remember,”

“And it’s _Granger_ -Weasley,” Hugo corrected him.

“Whatever,” Leo said, rolling his eyes. 

“Are we really sitting here?” Hannah asked, sliding into the seat next to Leo.

“No one wants you here,” Leo said.

“Shut up, Leo,” David snapped before brightening up, “so, how was everyone's summer?”

“You know, there was something really fun about practically being in hiding,” Hugo said, “it was exactly how I wanted to spend my summer,”

“The ball was fun,” Hannah said reasonably.

“Was it?” Alex asked, “we could have died,”

“The first part of the ball was fun,” Hannah corrected herself.

“I actually enjoyed my summer,” Louis said, “there was more english people around than usual, which meant that I didn’t feel completely terrible for not being able to speak french,”

Lily rolled her eyes at them and turned her attention to her Butterbeer. She really wished that people would just move on from what had happened in the summer.

“Heard that Lydia Potter was quite the-” Leo began.

“Lydia Weasley,” Lily said quietly.

“Huh?”

“Lydia Weasley,” Lily repeated, “her last name is Weasley. She doesn’t like it when people use the wrong name. She always says that she spent a lot of money to be a Weasley,”

Leo frowned at her, “Right. Whatever. Didn’t she like...duel three people at once or something?”

“Something like that,” Hugo said absentmindedly and casting a panicked look at Lily. 

“Wicked...” Leo said. He turned to Lily, “Can you do that?” 

“Can I do what?”

“Duel three people at once,”

“Leo!” David hissed, “leave her alone!”

“It’s just a question!” Leo exclaimed, “so, can you?”

“No.”

”You could at least try to be more like her. At least then you’d be interesting,” 

“Maybe you could try and shut up,” Lorcan suggested.

“Shut up, Salamander,”

“Oh yeah, I’ve never heard that joke before,” Lorcan snapped.

Lily slammed her bottle of Butterbeer down on the tabe and stood up, nudging Hannah in the side so that she could get out of the booth. 

“Lils, he’s just being a dick,” Hannah muttered, grabbing her arm, “just sit back down,” 

“I don’t care!” Lily snapped, “I just...I promised Uncle Harry that I would go and see him today,” 

Before anyone could shout her back and call her out for lying, Lily had swept from the Three Broomsticks. Feeling as though she could quite happily curse someone as ferociously as her mother, Lily stomped down the path towards Hogwarts, but instead veered into the woodland area that lined the path. When she was sure she was out of earshot of passersby, Lily allowed herself to yell at the trees, as though everything that was happening was their fault. 

“I am not just Lydia Weasley’s daughter! I am not just the daughter of the Girl who Lived! I am not around to so people can constantly compare me to my mum, I am-”

“I’ve heard who you’re not, so, Lily Weasley, who are you? Who do you wanna be? How do you wanna be remembered?” 

Lily whirled around, her eyes scanning the trees, trying to find the source of the voice, but there seemed to be no one around. 

“Who’s there?” Lily asked, fighting to keep her voice from shaking, “Hello?”

“Don’t be worrying your little head, it’s only me,”

Lily spun around and she came face to face with Corvus. At once, she whipped her wand out and he held his hands up.

“Woah, woah, woah...not here to hurt you,”

“You’re not here to...what? You tried to kill me in June!” 

“Listen, I know what I said...but I’ve been thinking a lot about you...and everything you just said...” he trailed off and smirked, “you’re forever under her shadow, aren’t you? No matter what you do, you’re never as good as her. Whatever you do, she would do better,”

“Sh- Shut up!”

“You could save the day and it still wouldn’t be good enough,”

“I said - I said shut up!”

“But I guess you don’t have to save the day, because she did, all those years ago,” 

“Which is a good thing-”

“Not for you though, my dear,” Corvus continued, “because now you can never prove yourself,”

“I don’t care - I don’t care what you think about me!” Lily exclaimed, praying that someone would wander over to them.

“Don’t you want to step out from her shadow? You said it yourself, you’re more than her daughter. So _prove_ it,”

“And how do you expect me to do that?” Lily snapped, unwittingly letting her guard down.

“Make her have to save the day again,”

“What?”

“Make her have to save the day again,” he repeated, “imagine it! Imagine Hogwarts wreaked with havoc again! And imagine your mother and your Uncle playing the heroes again, desperately trying to save everyone. And then, at the centre of it all... _you_ ,”

“I’m not capable of-”

“Of course you are!” he said impatiently, “your mother was! Become what she never could!”

“I couldn’t!”

“Notice how you’re saying that you’re not capable of it, not that you don’t want to,”

“I’m going back to the castle,”

“And how you choose to deal with all this is going to determine who you become, Miss Weasley. Say hi to your Uncle Harry for me,” 

Lily turned on her heel and ran back up to the castle without looking back. She didn’t stop running until she was back in the Entrance Hall and into the dungeons. Smoothing her hair and trying to get her breath back, Lily hurried over to Professor Slughorn’s office, her hand poised to knock on the door but something stopped her.

Instead, she dropped her hand and went to turn away, just as the door opened and she came face to face with Uncle Harry, the last person she wanted to see. 

“Hiya, Lils!” he said brightly, “everything OK? I thought you were in Hogsmeade,”

“I was,” she said, “but then I - I...”

“What?” he asked, “did something happen?”

“No,” Lily said, “No. I just realised I needed to speak to Professor Slughorn about something,”

“Luckily for you, he’s in a good mood because he’s just spoken to his favourite ex-student,” 

“Is Uncle Draco in there, too?”

“Sometimes I don’t like how you’ve inherited your mums snark,” he said, winking at her, “See you later,”

“Yeah...”

Corvus’ words echoed through her mind but she quickly shut them up and walked into Slughorn’s office, making up a lie about how she was worried about the last essay that she handed in.

_“And how you choose to deal with all this is going to determine who you become, Miss Weasley. Say hi to your Uncle Harry for me,”_

“...well, I don’t know what you were worrying about, Lily. You got full marks,” Slughorn said jovially.

“Oh,” Lily said, coming back down to earth and forcing a smile onto her face, “Oh. Okay. Great.”

Slughorn gave her a rare frown, “is everything OK, m’girl? Is there something you’re worried about?”

“No, Professor. Everything is fine,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I've officially ran out of pre-written chapters, which means that I can start panicking now!!!


	35. The Letter

Lily tried to act as though everything was completely fine, but she found that she was a rather bad actress. Every noise made her jump and she felt as though she was on the verge of having a panic attack whenever someone called her name. Whenever she slept, her dreams were plagued with Corvus and the things that he had said to her, and it was making life at Hogwarts very difficult. 

She began to pull away from her friends and spend more time alone in the library under the guise that she was trying to focus on her OWLs. Whenever Hannah asked if she wanted to skip History of Magic with her, she would refuse and say she desperately wanted to pass that class, only to barely pay attention to anything that Binns was saying. She even began to avoid Uncle Harry; when she saw him walking in her direction, she would either seek cover in the bathroom or walk in the complete opposite direction. When the bell rang in Defence Against the Dark Arts, she would rush out of the classroom before he had the time to call her back like he usually did.

Somehow, she had managed to convince herself that not spending any time with her friends was for the best, because if she did, Corvus might go after them. After all, he had probably already gone after Alex and there was no saying that he wouldn’t do it again. 

The worst thing about it though was that she knew that none of this behaviour was a good sign. 

Any good and rational person would have rushed straight to the Headmistress after a meeting like that with Corvus, and yet she was keeping it to herself. And in some strange and twisted way, Lily felt as though he had put her feelings into better words than she could have ever hoped to do. 

_ “Listen, I know what I said...but I’ve been thinking a lot about you...and everything you just said...” he trailed off and smirked, “you’re forever under her shadow, aren’t you? No matter what you do, you’re never as good as her. Whatever you do, she would do better,” _

He was right. Lily was never just Lily, she was always ‘Lydia Potter’s daughter’. Who she was as a person was tied to her mother, and there was nothing that she could do to change that. Her looks belonged to her mother, her mannerisms belonged to her mother...even Potions seemed to belong Lydia! It never mattered how good Lily was at Potions, because it was always more interesting to talk about how bad Lydia was. It didn’t matter that Lily had never failed a Potions exam, because it was always hilarious how badly Lydia used to do on hers. And it didn’t matter that Lily had been made Prefect because Lydia had done it first and because she fucked up everything she did, it was more interesting than Lily actually doing things right. 

“ _ Become what she never could,”  _

Those words would echo around her mind all day, every day. Lily knew that neither her mum nor Uncle Harry would want to save the day again, but what Corvus had said was true; if she became the Dark Witch that her mum had never had the nerve to, there was no way that anyone would ever compare the two of them again. 

No quicker than this thought entered her mind did she squash it, reminding herself that out of all the paths that she could go down in her life, becoming the next Lord Voldemort was  _ not _ the one she wanted to go down. She was more than happy to pursue a career in Potions. 

_ If you don’t want to do it, why do you think about it all the time?  _ A small voice in the back of her mind asked. 

“Shut up,” Lily muttered. 

“What was that?” Hugo asked. 

Lily looked up and smiled at Hugo, completely forgetting that she was sat with him and Molly in the Hufflepuff common room. 

“Nothing,” she said, “Just talking to myself.”

“First sign of insanity, hearing voices,” Molly said absentmindedly. 

“Yeah, yeah...” Lily said, rolling her eyes at her, “I’m going to the library,”

Hugo raised his eyebrows at her, “Are you trying to transfer to Ravenclaw or something?”

“What?”

“It’s Saturday, and you’re going to the  _ library _ ? I don’t even think my mum used to do that!”

“I told you, I want to pass my OWLs, and I’m not going to do that if I’m just sat on my arse in here. We can’t all be naturally smart like you!”

“Shut up,” 

Lily had developed a love for sitting in the very back corner of the library near the Restricted Section. It was very rare that anyone other than stressed seventh years wandered to that end of the library, and they would rarely  pay Lily any attention unless to ask for a spare quill or bit of parchment. 

“Anyone sitting here?” Lorcan asked, appearing out of nowhere and making Lily jump. 

“No,” she said, moving her bag so that he could sit down, “why are you in the library on a Saturday?”

“Why are  _ you _ in the library on a Saturday?” he countered. 

Lily smiled at him but quickly stopped herself and glanced out of the window. There was every chance that Corvus was in the grounds and listening in on their conversation. 

“Are you alright?” he asked, “something going on out there?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said, “I thought that maybe - never mind,” she turned back to look at him and smiled again, “how come you aren’t with Lysander?”

“He’s trying out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and I couldn’t be bothered going to watch. I don’t think he would want me to watch, anyway,” 

“Are you still trying out for the Slytherin team?”

“Yep,” he said brightly, “Tryouts are tomorrow, are you going to come and watch?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Lily replied, before she could stop herself. 

The very next morning, Lily shocked herself when she realised that she was actually going to go and watch the tryouts. Usually, she would agree to plans and then back out of them last minute, and yet she found herself walking to the Quidditch pitch in quite a good mood. 

“Lils!” Uncle Harry shouted, walking away from Hagrid's hut and hurrying over to her, “I feel like I haven’t see you in weeks, where’ve you been?”

“In school, like you,” 

“I mean I haven’t spoken to you outside of class. Are you avoiding me?” 

Lily knew that he was only asking that question jokingly, but it still didn’t stop her from beginning to panic that he might know something about Corvus. 

“Obviously not,” she lied, “I’ve just been busy. I’ve been in the library a lot,”

He raised his eyebrows at her, “Are you trying to become another Hermione Granger? Because we really don’t need another one of those,”

“No,” she said, forcing a laugh, “I just want to do well in my OWLs. And I feel like if I don’t start revising for Transfiguration now, I’ll never pass,”

“If your mum can pass Potions, anything is possible,” 

Lily ignored the prickle of anger she felt at the mention of her mum and just nodded along, “Yeah. Well, I’m going to watch the Quidditch tryouts so...”

“Have fun,” he grinned, “and come and see me soon, yeah?”

“Yeah. I will,” she said, in the full knowledge that she probably would not. 

In the stands, Alex was waiting for her in his Quidditch robes and holding a letter. 

“Shouldn’t you be on the pitch?” she asked. 

“Yes,” he snapped, “but there was this annoying owl pestering me all breakfast with this letter for you! So please, take it, before it comes back and kills me!”

“What owl?” Lily shouted after him, “Was it Moony?”

“Might have been!” Alex shouted back as he ran onto the pitch, “but I couldn’t tell because it kept on trying to peck my eyes out!”

As the Quidditch hopefuls took to the sky, Lily sat down and opened the letter, expecting it to be off her mum or dad. Only the handwriting was not one that she recognised. 

_ “Hello Lily, _

_ I am assuming that you did not tell your Uncle Harry about Hogsmeade on account of the fact that neither he nor your mother have tracked me down and killed me. This could only mean that you’re really considering joining me, right? _

_ Stepping out from underneath her shadow is all you’ve ever wanted, I’m sure, and becoming the kind of person that she never had the guts to would be the perfect way to do it.  _

_ Think about it: Teddy looks after Werewolves and everyone thinks that he is so selfless for doing so, Fred is working under Ollivander, and everyone thinks that he is so clever, but what are you doing? What do you have to bring to the table? I know that you are very good at Potions, but how does that compare to being the captain of the Holyhead Harpies when and leading them to victory four leagues in a row? _

_ I don’t think you’ll write me back straight away. You aren’t as reckless as your mum. You’re smarter than her. But when you feel like you’re ready to become more than she ever was, you know what to do.  _

_ Corvus,”  _

Suddenly feeling very faint, Lily screwed up the letter and shoved it into her robes. There was something horrifying about the fact that he could easily reach out to her and no one would ever know. How many more letters would she receive from him? And what would happen if she wrote back to him? And what did the fact that she completely agreed with everything that she wrote say about her?

Lily could barely focus on anything that was happening on the Quidditch pitch after that. She barely even registered the fact that she hugged Lorcan after he made the team and cheered along with everyone else when Alex announced that their would be a party in the common room. 

The only thing that she was quite certain of was the fact that she was in more danger than she had first thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!!
> 
> Feedback appreciated as always!!
> 
> I also want to say thank-you to ThatBoringOne for always leaving lovely comments under almost every chapter, it always brings a smile to my face, so thank-you again!!!
> 
> <3


	36. The Bellatrix to his Lord Voldemort

Lily sat alone in the blustery courtyard and tried her best to stay as invisible as possible. People hurried past with their heads bent against the wind without so much as glancing at her, and Lily was quite happy to live the rest of her life that way. Maybe she would be able to stay so invisible that even Corvus himself would walk by without looking at her. Deep down, though, she knew that this way of thinking was pure naivety.

The letter that he had sent her sat heavy in her pocket. It had scared her so much that she had not even used the Stone for fear that someone would overhear what she was talking about, or who she was talking about it with.

Really, she had never felt so alone.

And yet, whenever she re-read the letter (all whilst feeling extremely ashamed for doing so) she couldn’t help but feel like there was actually someone out there who understood her. And whilst Corvus wasn’t really the sort of person that she wanted to be understood by, she wasn’t really in a position to be picking and  choosing.

“So, you and Lorcan Scamander, huh?”

Lily’s head snapped up to find David Addington-Oakes stood in front of her.

“If you’re looking for Hugo, he’s-”

“No, I know where he is,” Davis said, sitting next to her, “He’s currently arguing with Lysander Scamander about whether or not Nargles are really real,”

“Who’s winning?” Lily asked.

“Neither of them,” David sighed, “so I decided to leave before it got nasty,”

“Right,” Lily said, still confused as to why he was sat next to her, “Are you lost or something?”

“Not lost, just wanted to know about you and Lorcan. And no, Hugo did not put me up to this. I’m not his personal owl,” he added, when she opened her mouth to ask that very question.

“There’s nothing to know about me and Lorcan,” Lily muttered, inwardly cursing when she felt her cheeks turn red.

David rolled his eyes at her.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. He’s pretty, you’re pretty. It’d all work out!”

Lily raised her eyebrows at him, “Did you just call me pretty?”

“Calm down, Weasley, I’m not flirting with you. I’m gay,”

“Are you really? I thought you and Hugo were together because you’re both straight,”

“ _Ha-Ha,”_ he said sarcastically, “oh, I also have a letter for you,”

“For me?” she asked, “from who?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. I didn’t read it. I saw your brothers owl flying around, Loony-”

“Moony,”

“Yeah, that one. And thought I would be a good friend and take it for you,”

“Friend?” Lily asked skeptically.

“Yeah, that is probably pushing it...more like...forced acquaintance,” he handed her the letter and stood up, “Right, I’m going to go and stop my boyfriend from killing your boyfriend's twin brother,”

“Not my boyfriend!” she shouted to his retreating back.

Smiling to herself, Lily glanced down at the letter and almost dropped it. She immediately recognised the handwriting and wanted nothing more than to tear it up and never have to think about it again. But she knew that she would never be able to do that. As always, curiosity got the better of it and she opened it with shaking hands, hoping that it’s contents would be news that the Dark Order had disbanded:

_“Hello again, Lily,_

_I am pleased of how you have managed to keep this secret. By now, most people would have given in and ran to tell someone. I’m impressed. I think you’re closer to joining me than you are to standing by your family. That takes bravery that you’re mother never had._

_I must ask you to write back soon. I have a plan that I need to set into motion soon._

_Remember: you could become what she never could._

_Corvus,”_

Lily shoved the letter into her pocket and tried to control her breathing, but the courtyard suddenly felt as though it was spinning and she felt as though the best way to combat that would be to close her eyes and lie down.

 

**—**

“So you found her in the courtyard? Just passed out?”

“Yeah, I saw her on the Marauders Map. Have you told Aunt Lydia?”

“Merlin, no. I’m going to wait for tonight,”

“Won’t she kill you if you if she finds out you didn’t tell her straight away?”

“I’m always in trouble with her  for something, I’m sure I’ll be fine,”

Lily groaned slightly and opened her eyes, looking up at the slightly blurry faces of Uncle Harry and Hugo. Slightly dazed, she grabbed her glasses off the side and shoved them onto her face, coming to the realisation that she was in the Hospital Wing.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice croaky.

“You were passed out in the courtyard,” Hugo said, handing her a glass of water, “I thought you were asleep at first but then you weren’t waking up,”

Lily frowned at him and racked her brains, trying to figure out why she had passed out in the first place. She had been talking to David about something stupid and then he had given her-

“The letter,” she muttered.

“What?” Uncle Harry asked.

“Nothing,” Lily said hastily, “Fred wrote me a letter and I forgot to write him back,”

“Do it tomorrow,” Uncle Harry advised, “You’re staying here the night, anyway. Madam Pomfrey’s orders. It’ll do you good, anyway, you’ve clearly overworked yourself. Hugo was just telling me how much time you’ve been spending in the library,”

“Yeah.” Lily said, thankful to be able to latch onto an excuse, “Yeah. I think I just stressed myself out,”

Uncle Harry nodded, “It is only October, Lils. You’re OWLs are ages away. I’m sure you’ll do fine in them,” he glanced down at his watch and stood up, stretching, “Well, I better get going. I put on an extra class for my seventh years and I’m already regretting it,”

When he had left, Hugo turned to her, grinning.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“Lorcan came to see you before,” he said casually.

Lily suddenly became very interested in straightening out her already straight covers before answering.

“That was nice of him,” she said.

He sighed and shook his head, “I already know what’s going to happen - you’re going to avoid him forever and then he’s going to get another girlfriend because he _is_ ridiculously good looking and then you’ll mope about it for months,”

“Get out,”

He laughed and stood up, looking quite proud of himself.

“You’re only saying that because you know I’m right,”

That evening, when Lily was alone in the Hospital Wing, she drew the curtains as tight as possible around her bed. Hoping that Madam Pomfrey would not suddenly feel the need to do the rounds in a dormitory that was empty except for Lily, she took the Stone in her hands and turned it over in her hands.

“Are we in the Hospital Wing?” Sirius asked, looking around, “Merlin, I spent so much time here,”

_“You_ spent so much time here?” Remus snapped, “I think you’ll find that if anyone spent a lot of time here, it was _me_ ,” 

“Never mind that,” James said quickly, “why are _you_ here, Lily?”

“I collapsed,” she said.

“Why?” Lily Potter asked hastily, “Did someone curse you? Are you ill? What happened?”

“I collapsed,” she said heavily, “in the Courtyard because...because...” without warning, she burst into tears and everything came spilling out of her.

“So...Corvus is...Covus is writing to you and asking you to join him?” Fred asked anxiously.

“Corvus is writing to me and asking me to join him,” Lily confirmed.

“Corvus is _what_?”

Lily jumped and almost fell out of her bed just as Uncle Harry wrenched the curtains open, his mouth hanging open.

“What are you doing here?” Lily asked furiously.

He held up a basket of food, “Well, I was going to give you this but - fucking hell, has he really - he’s - I’m - I need to - fucking hell,”

“Did you let him swear this much when you were alive?” Lily Potter hissed at James.

“Seriously, _that’s_ what you’re focusing on right now?” he asked, “Lily is in quite deep shit,”

“I think that's where he got it from,” Sirius whispered to Remus.

“We need to go,” Uncle Harry said, looking back up at her and holding out his hand, “Come on, we need to go to McGonagall. Good lord, your mother is going to _kill_ me,”

Strangely enough, when they got to McGonagall’s office and Lydia and George had arrived with Aunt Hermione, Lydia was unnervingly quiet. She just sat and stared at the letters that were laid out in front of her. Lily actually thought that she would have much preferred it if she was screaming and shouting like she had been expecting her to.

“Read the second paragraph of the first letter again,” Aunt Hermione said.

“‘ _Stepping out from underneath her shadow is all you’ve ever wanted, I’m sure, and becoming the kind of person that she never had the guts to would be the perfect way to do it’”_ Lydia read outloud, her voice sounding strange.

“There it is then!” Uncle Harry exclaimed, clapping his hands together, “that’s what he’s trying to do! What the Dark Order are trying to do! They’re going to try and - try and kill us...”

“Why isn’t Lydia speaking?” James whispered, “I’m quite worried. Why isn’t she trying to fight someone?”

“Lily, what else did he say to you?” Professor McGonagall asked, rounding on her.

“Something about Hogwarts being in havoc again and I’d be at the centre of it all and-”

There was a loud bang and they all jumped, looking around. It took Lily a few moments to realise that the source of the sound came from George slamming his hand onto the table. He looked the angriest that Lily had ever seen him in her life and she didn’t like it.

“Oh, no,” Fred whispered, “Angry George. This isn’t going to be fun for anyone,”

“Isn’t this the exact opposite to what you promised, Hermione?” he asked, his voice shaking slightly, “When you were running for office? Didn’t you say that none of this shit would ever happen again?”

“George, this isn’t helping!” Aunt Hermione snapped, “I’m more than aware of the platform that I ran on-”

“So do something about it!” he yelled, “for the love of Merlin, Hermione! You’re meant to be good at your job! And all you’ve done this year is let us be attacked at that stupid fucking Ball and now Corvus wants Lily to be the Bellatrix to his Lord Voldemort!”

“That is...that is _not_ going to happen,” Aunt Hermione yelled back, “I’m not going to let that happen!”

“Don’t you remember Cornelius Fudge saying that same thing about Voldemort coming back? Didn’t he say that he was never coming back?” George shouted, “because I remember him saying that over and over again and then how many people died? Sirius died, Dumbledore died, James died, Remus died, Tonks died, _Fred_ died! And I thought - I thought I lost Lydia too and-”

“George,” Lydia said quietly, “Just sit down, this isn’t - this isn’t helping anyone-”

“You know what it was like in that time when I thought she was actually dead?” he continued, completely ignoring Lydia, “I was feeling things that I never want to feel again! And if I lose Lily-” his voice broke and he dropped into the seat next to her, his head in his hands, “This is my daughter we’re talking about, Hermione. When it was us, it was different. We didn’t know any better,”

“I know, George,” Aunt Hermione said, “I know. Everything we did back then was reckless and stupid and there are times when I look back at what we did and wonder what on earth was going through our mind - if anything,”

“Breaking into Gringotts,” Uncle Harry muttered from next to Lily.

“I can’t believe they broke into Gringotts and we never did,” Sirius sighed.

“Which is why I’m not going to let anything happen to Lily or any of the other kids,” Aunt Hermione said, “The Dark Order aren’t going to win, OK? I’m not going to let that happen. _No one_ in this room is going to let that happen,”

"What's the plan then?" Uncle Harry asked, "do we watch the post? Look through every letter that Lily gets sent,"

"No," Lydia said, finally speaking up, "No. He'll work that out. We act as though none of this-" she gestured around the room, "ever happened. If we act stupid, then he'll carry on as normal, which means that he'll give us more information. If he sends another letter, Lily will just take it straight to Harry. Right, Lils?"

There was a strange look in Lydia's eye, but Lily could not quite work out what it was. 

"Yeah. Straight to Uncle Harry," she said. 

"That's settled then," Aunt Hermione, "I'll get some Aurors on it, and make sure that the Daily Prophet doesn't get their hands on those letters,"

Lily knew that the 'Daily Prophet' was code for Rita Skeeter and she actually shuddered just thinking about the sort of article that Rita Skeeter would right if she could hear the conversation they were having. 

“Mum,” Lily whispered, tears springing to her eyes, “Mum, I want to - can I leave? I don’t really want to be here,”

“She can go back to Grimmauld Place,” Uncle Harry said, tossing Floo Powder into the fireplace behind him, “Someone will be home. You can stay there whilst you...wrap your head around everything,”

“Yes,” Professor McGonagall said, “take as much time off as you need, Miss Weasley,”

Lily did not need to be told twice. She said goodbye very quickly and disappeared into the fireplace.

“Lils?” James asked, looking up from where he was sat at the kitchen table, “what’s going on? Is everything OK?”

“I’m such an idiot,” she whispered, before bursting into tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!!!


	37. Meant to be Free

Lydia slammed the mornings Daily Prophet onto Hermione's desk as rage unlike any other than she had ever felt before rushed through her body. It was a miracle that she had gotten from her house to the Ministry without trying to beat someone up. 

"Why the  _ fuck _ is Rita Skeeter still writing for the Daily Prophet?" she snapped. 

Hermione sighed and put her head in her hands, "You know that I can't stop journalists from writing-"

"What about journalists who've broken the law on numerous occasions?" 

"Lyds, if I could stop her from writing you know that I would," Hermione said calmly, "but as the Minister for Magic, I really can't be seen to silencing journalists,"

"It's a sad state of affairs when Rita Skeeter  is being classed as a journalist," George muttered angrily, "I mean, what a lovely headline to write about a fifteen year old girl - ' _ Lily Weasley: A Mix Between Her (occasionally) Evil Mother and Bellatrix Lestrange? _ '"

Lydia sighed and threw herself down into a chair in front of Hermione's desk just as the fireplace behind her burst to life and Harry, Ron and Draco tumbled out. 

"Sorry about the carpet, 'Mione," Harry muttered. 

"Bigger things to worry about, love," Draco said, shaking ash out of Harry's hair before stopping abruptly, "Oh, sorry, that's not ash that's just grey hair," 

"Don't start an argument about your bleeding hair," Ron said sharply, just as Harry opened his mouth to argue back. 

Lydia put her head in her hands and tried to steer herself away from a panic attack that was slowly but surely brewing within her. Neither she nor George had slept a full eight hours for months, and Corvus essentially grooming Lily had not at all helped matters. 

"The last thing Lily needs right now is Rita Skeeter going after her," Hermione said,  launching the paper into the fire, "How is she, Harry?"

"I don't really know-"

"What do you mean you don't really know?" Lydia snapped, "you see her more than I do!"

"What I mean is that I don't really know if she's that bothered by it," Harry said through gritted teeth, "She seems remarkably calm for someone who's been accused of being the next Bellatrix Lestrange,"

"She didn't inherit that calmness off Lydia, that's for sure," Ron snorted. 

"Shut up," Lydia said, sticking two fingers up at him whilst Hermione tutted. 

"We need to focus!" she exclaimed, "And try and get intel on the Dark Order. What I need is a man on the inside. I have this list of Aurors who I think would be great but-"

"I'll do it," Draco said quickly, "there's already been rumours that I've been behind it all-"

"Nope," Harry interrupted, "You're not doing it. I'll do it-"

"You'll do it?" Lydia scoffed, "No offence, H, but you're still Gryffindors Golden Boy after all these years. I'll do it," 

"No, you won't," Harry and George said at the exact same time. 

Lydia rolled her eyes at both of them. It always shocked her how everyone around her seemed to have conveniently forgotten the kind of person that she had been during the war. The memory of blowing up the death eater who had killed her dad forced itself to the front of her mind and it became even more obvious that she would have to be the double agent. 

"First of all, I'm an adult who can make decisions for myself," Lydia said, "Secondly, you've all read the article. I'm the ' _ occasionally evil mother _ '. I don't think that Corvus is as stupid as the media has painted him to be. I think he's quite intelligent, so tricking him is going to be hard-"

"Yeah, especially if you're the bloody Girl who Lived!" George exclaimed, "he's never going to believe that the person who killed Voldemort-"

"I didn't kill Voldemort," she replied calmly, "Harry did,"

This time, it was Harry's turn to roll his eyes at her. 

"Fucking hell, Lydia, how many times do we have to have this conversation? I wasn't the only one who killed Voldemort. You did as well!"

Lydia shook her head, " _ You _ were the one who duelled him last,  _ you _ were the one who killed him!"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Draco said, frowning. 

"I can spin the narrative," Lydia shrugged, "I can say that I didn't want to kill Voldemort because I sympathised with him. I can say that I went to die because I was scared that I would kill him. I'll just lean into everything that Rita Skeeter has ever written about me. Or I can go in and say that I'm only doing it to protect my family. I'll work it out as I go along," 

"That is the stupidest idea you've ever had," Hermione said. 

"The stupidest idea I've ever had is to throw fireworks in Snape's class," Lydia said, "this is the only chance we have! You said it yourself, 'Mione! We need someone on the inside and none of you will be able to pull it off. No offence," 

"None taken," Ron said, "I'm more than happy to not do it," 

"Maybe you should speak to the Aurors before we agree to anything, Hermione," Harry said, casting a worried look at Lydia. 

"I can't do that," Hermione said, "Someone betrayed us in the summer. The only people I can trust are people in this room," 

Despite herself, Lydia grinned. 

"I feel like I'm seventeen again," 

That evening, Lydia and George stood in a stony silence in front of a crackling fire in their garden. Like all other spouses, they bickered often, but it was very rare that they would ever properly row, and that only made it harder when they actually did. 

"George, I am doing what's best-"

"You're not doing what's best for the family, so don't even try it," he snapped. 

Lydia groaned loudly, "How is this not best for the kids? Corvus is going after them! He's going after us!" 

"So you're just going to walk straight into his arms?" George scoffed, "you said it yourself, he's intelligent-"

"So am I," Lydia snapped, "I can outsmart him!"

George sighed. 

"I'm not saying that you aren't smart, because you're more intelligent than I could ever dream of being, but this isn't outsmarting Mr Filch or Umbridge. This is someone who would happily kill you!"

"Have you forgotten how many people I've come across in my lifetime who would happily kill me?" 

"What if you get found out?" George asked, "What if it's like Dumbledore's Army and goes wrong? What are you going to do then? Because Dumbledore isn't around to get you out of tight spots anymore, Lydia!"

"Is he not?" Lydia asked sarcastically, "that's strange because I was going to go around to his house for tea tomorrow,”

George swore quietly under his breath and Lydia felt a moment of brief vindication when she realised that she was winning the argument. This vindication was only replaced with guilt when George looked up at her with tears in his eyes. 

“I can’t not do this. Not when it’s the  _ kids  _ who are in danger,” Lydia said, “if my mum can do it, so can I,”

George shook his head, “I don’t want you to be like your mum. I don’t want you to have to put yourself in between a Killing Curse and the kids,” 

“Neither do I, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it. And don’t even try and tell me that you wouldn’t do the same,” 

“Of course I would do it,” George said, “what parent wouldn’t?”

As George spoke, James’ voice echoed through her mind; “ _ Lily, take Harry and Lydia and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off - _ ,”

"I can't lose you, Lydia," George said quietly, "I can't live in a world without you and Fred,"

"Georgie," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "You - you won't, I promise. I'm not...I'm not going anywhere. Ever," 

"You won't come back this time. If he kills you," 

"I know," Lydia said, tears springing to her own eyes, "I know, but I still have to do it. You know I have to do it,"

He wiped his eyes on the back of his hand, "I know you have to do it, and that's what pisses me off even more. After the last war we were meant to be free. You were meant to be free..."

"One day we will be," she said, walking towards him as he held out his arms towards her. 

He wrapped her in a hug and she buried her head in his chest, letting herself cry. Her stubbornness would prevent her from ever telling him how scared she was, but she felt safe in the knowledge that she would never have to say it outloud to him. He would just know. He always knew. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I know, this is short, I apologise.   
> 2) I know, I took forever to update, I aplogise. 
> 
> BUT! 
> 
> I planned this out fully (ish) the other day so I feel like what's coming will make up for how bad I am at updating!! Because it's going to be great!!! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!<3


	38. Moving On

“He must have gone after her for a reason. He must see something in her,” 

“I think you’re right. I’ve always thought that there was something off about her,” 

“I don’t know how I feel about the fact that they’re just letting her come back to school like it’s nothing!”

“Yeah, you know why she’s back, don’t you?  _ Potter Privilege _ ,” 

Lily managed not to roll her eyes at the term ‘Potter Privilege’; it was a stupid phrase that had followed her around Hogwarts from the moment she had stepped foot in the castle. She had long since learned to ignore it, though. If ‘Potter Privilege’ was indeed a thing, she doubted that she would be being hunted down by the Dark Order. 

It was a relief to fight through the crowded halls and finally get to the Potions classroom. It was the one place in the whole castle where she felt the most calm. So calm, in fact that the entirety of the Dark Order could burst through the door and she probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid. 

“You alright?” Lorcan asked when she took her seat next to him. 

“Fine,” she muttered, dropping her bag under the table, “just people being generally annoying,” 

He nodded knowingly, “That is one thing I’ve noticed about people at Hogwarts. They’re generally annoying,” 

“Good afternoon, class!” Professor Slughorn said loudly, walking into the room, “Today, we’re going to be starting a new Potion - Strengthening Solution. Now, can anyone tell me how long this Potion takes to brew?”

Lily’s hand was in the air before Slughorn had finished the question, and he chuckled slightly as he pointed to her. 

“Yes, Lily?”

“It’s brewed in two stages and there should be at least seven days between the stages to allow it to mature. If you don’t let the Potion mature, then it won’t work!”

“Correct as always, Lily! Take five points for Slytherin!” 

“Have you swallowed a Potions textbook or something?” Lorcan asked, “how do you know the answer to every question he asks?”

“That one was common sense,” Lily shrugged, “If you know anything about Potions, you know that they get more dangerous the longer you leave them brewing. So, if you want as strong of a Strengthening Solution as possible, then you should leave it for a while,” 

“Are you implying that I don’t have common sense?”

“Not in Potions you don’t,” Lily remarked, “I watch you all the time. You’re terrible,” 

He smirked at her, “You stare at me all the time, do you?”

Lily felt herself go slightly red, “Shut up,” 

Across the table, Hannah giggled. 

“This is cute,” she said, pointing to the two of them, “the two weirdest people I know, flirting. Adorable,” 

“Why am I - why am I weird?” Lorcan whispered to Lily. 

Lily did not want to be the one to explain that talking about Wrackspurts at the top of your voice was quite strange, so just shrugged her shoulders and muttered something about how Hannah was weird the one. 

By the end of the day, Lily was beyond stressed. And for the first time in her life, it had nothing to do with the fact that she was still failing Transfiguration. 

“I’ve actually been paying more attention in Defence Against the Dark Arts just in case she cracks soon,”

“I think she will crack soon...I don’t think I’ve seen her smile once since she’s came back,” 

“Maybe she  _ is  _ actually like her mum...only the terrible parts of her mum,” 

It was a relief to get back to the common room that evening and realise that she would most likely be alone for the night; Hannah, Alex and Lorcan were all at Quidditch practice, Hugo was with David and Louis had detention with Jowell for forgetting to hand his homework in. 

She sat in her dormitory slowly working her way through a charms essay when she realised how hard it was for her to concentrate on anything. Her mind was too busy worrying Corvus to worry about the theory behind the Silencing Charm. She might have been more interested if the theory offered an explanation on how to silence the thoughts in her head. 

Resigning herself to the fact that she almost certainly wasn’t going to be finishing the essay that night, she shoved everything back into her bag and grabbed the Invisibility Cloak out of her trunk. It was not passed her curfew yet, but Lily still did not want to be asked invasive questions about where she was going because she was almost certain that every single one would be suggesting that she was going to be meeting Corvus. 

Lily slipped into the first broom cupboard that she came across and quickly whipped the cloak off her, turning the Stone over three times in her hand. 

“Hey, Lils!” Fred said cheerfully, “Everything alright?”

“Everything is alright if you ignore the fact that the entire school thinks that I’m evil,” Lily said. 

“Been there,” Sirius said. 

“No one  _ ever  _ thought you were evil,” Lily Potter said, rolling her eyes, “they all just thought that you were annoying,” 

“Not the point,” Lily said hastily, “Everyone genuinely thinks that I’m going to crack and murder everyone in the entire castle!”

“Do you feel like you’re going to?” James asked, “Murder everyone, I mean,”

“What sort of question is that?” Lily exclaimed, “Obviously not!”

“I had to check! We spend a lot of time together!” James said defensively. 

“You’re already dead, Prongs. You don’t need to worry about being murdered,” Remus sighed, “You can’t be murdered more than once,”

“I can, actually,” James pointed out, “or have you forgotten about that? It was quite a big deal,” 

“This really is not the most important thing going on right now,” Lily said, “I’m more worried about the fact that-”

There was a sudden knock on the door and Lily almost tumbled off the bucket that she was sat on. 

“Lily, is that you?” 

Before she could do anything, the door opened, revealing a rather confused Uncle Harry.

“Are you talking to yourself again or...oh, my god...” he trailed off when he saw the Stone in her hand, “Are you - my god...no way...is that...how do you even - are you talking to-” he suddenly gasped, “That’s who you were talking to in the Hospital Wing!” 

“Lie,” Fred sad quickly, “Lily, lie. Just lie. He’ll never know, he’ll never know,” 

But Lily knew that there was no way that she would be able to lie her way out of this one. There were very few things in the world that she could lie her way out of.

“Yes,” she said, “that’s who I was talking to in the Hospital Wing,” 

“Do you have any idea how dangerous - I mean, honestly!  _ The Three Brothers _ , have you never - you should have - we should have let you - I knew it was going to come and bite us on the - good god,” 

He seemed unable to string a sentence together, a sure sign that things were going badly. Lily knew that things were  _ definitely  _ going badly when she was up in Uncle Harry’s office and Lydia and George tumbled out of the fireplace, both with faces like thunder. 

The Resurrection Stone sat in the middle of Uncle Harry’s desk, and Lily could not take her eyes off it. Maybe if they all used it, they would realise that it really wasn’t as bad as they thought it was. If anything, it had helped Lily a lot over the past few years. 

“How did you even find it, Lily?” George asked. 

“Accidentally. In my third year, I was in the Forest and I-”

“In third year?” Lydia exclaimed, “how do you even manage to hide that for that long? Who else knew?”

Lily opened her mouth to drop everyone else in it but quickly stopped herself. 

“Just me,” 

Lydia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. 

“I just don’t understand how you could actually think that it was a good idea!” 

“You told me it was a good thing when you took me and Fred into the Forest!”

“No, I didn’t!” Lydia yelled, “It was comforting because I knew where I was going! I knew I was walking to my death but it was OK because they were going to be on the other side! That’s what the Stone does, Lils! It encourages you to death!”

“Well, I’m not dead am I!” 

“That’s not the point, Lily,” George snapped. 

“What is the point then?” she asked, “what’s so wrong with using the Stone if it makes me happy?”

“Yeah, happy enough to kill yourself!” Lydia snapped. 

“Who did you see?” Uncle Harry asked, “Just...out of curiosity,”

“Your parents. Remus and Sirius and...and Uncle Freed,” Lily told him, not quite looking at her dad. 

“Fred?” George asked in a strained whisper, “He was - he was there?” 

Lily nodded, “Yeah.” 

“Get rid of it,” he said, pointing at the Stone, “I don’t care what you do with it, just get rid of it,” 

“What? No!” Lily shouted, “Don’t - Don’t get rid of it!”

“They’re  _ dead _ , Lily!” George shouted, “All of them, they’re dead! Uncle Fred, James, Lily, Remus, Sirius...they’ve been dead for years! We have to live our lives without them!”

“No, we don’t! Because they’re just in-”

“You weren’t really speaking to my mum or dad, Lily,” Lydia said, “You were speaking to...echoes of who they were. It wasn’t truly them!” 

“But they felt real!” Lily exclaimed tearfully. 

Lydia sighed and closed her eyes. 

“Believe me, love, I know. I  _ know  _ how real they seem, but it really isn’t them. They’re just echoes of people who we used to know...don’t you think that I wish that there was a way that I could bring everyone back?” she asked, “God, when Teddy got sorted into Hufflepuff, I wanted nothing more than to tell his mum. When Freddie did so well on his NEWTs, I wanted to tell Uncle Fred because it’s so funny how different they are. And  _ Christ _ , when you were sorted into Slytherin and made a prefect, I wanted to tell my dad because he disliked both prefects and Slytherins and there’s something hilarious about the fact that his daughter and granddaughter were Slytherin Prefects,” 

“But, you can-”

“Lily, you don’t need the Resurrection Stone for them to know what’s happening. Remus knows about all the work that Teddy does for Werewolves. My Dad and Sirius both know how much James Sirius lives up to his name. Uncle Fred knows that the shop is in safe hands. My mum knows that you’re exceeding even her Potion making abilities,” Lydia said, “because they never left us, they’re in here,” and she pointed to Lily’s heart. 

“It was nice to speak to them, though,” Lily whispered, wiping her eyes. 

“Of course it was,” George said gently, putting his arm around her and kissing the top of her head, “I’d love to speak to my brother, and in a strange way, I do. Every day. But we have to move on with our lives,” 

“Moving on sounds like forgetting them,”

“No, it isn’t forgetting them,” Uncle Harry said, “We move on without them physically, but that doesn’t mean they’re not with us in another way,”

Lily had been so caught up with the Stone that she didn't even realise how exhausted both of her parents looked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!!
> 
> Feedback, as always, is appreciated! <3


	39. Gone Over

Whilst Lydia and George might have taken the entire issue with the Resurrection Stone rather well, Hannah did not. Lily did not expect her to be fine with it, but she also did not expect her to react to it in the way that she did. There was a lot of shouting and tears that ultimately ended up with her storming out of the common room and Alex grumbling about how he would go after her. 

“I’m not going to shout at you, don’t worry,” Hugo said hurriedly, when Lily turned to him, “but I do think that you’re stupid,”

Louis just shrugged, “I’m not getting involved. This doesn’t seem like a me sort of issue,” 

“I know I was stupid,” Lily said impatiently, “but it’s over now. We can just move on,”

“How pissed off were your mum and dad, though?” Hugo asked. 

“Strangely calm,” Lily said, “I was expecting my mum to be more pissed than she actually was. I think dad was more hung up about the Uncle Fred thing than anything else,”

“Yeah, well, when isn’t he hung up about the Uncle Fred thing?” Hugo asked sadly, “So, have you been banned from Hogsmeade?”

“Surprisingly not,” Lily said, “Uncle Harry said that it was a ‘family issue’ so as my teacher, he couldn’t do anything,” 

“That’s also code for ‘I want to keep on being your cool Uncle so I won’t ban you from Hogsmeade’,” Hugo scoffed. 

“But who’s going to tell him that he’s never been the cool Uncle?” Louis sighed. 

“Teddy, probably,” Lily said. 

“Yeah...probably,” 

Secretly, Lily was quite bitter about the fact that she  _ wasn’t  _ banned from Hogsmeade. Ever since running into Corvus there, she had started to see the village in quite a different light. Instead of looking forward to Hogsmeade weekends like the rest of her classmates, she had grown to dread them and was not at all happy when she saw a notice on the common room notice board announcing the Halloween trip. 

“Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?” Lorcan asked her on Halloween morning. 

Lily sighed, “I wasn’t going to, but Fred wrote to me and asked me to go so...I guess I’ll have to. Are you?”

“Nope,” he said, “I have Quidditch practice,”

“With all the practices you’re having, we better win the cup this year,” 

“You say that like you care about Quidditch,”

Lily shrugged, “I care about  _ some  _ parts of Quidditch,” 

He grinned at her. 

“Have fun in Hogsmeade,” 

“I almost certainly won’t,” 

She dragged herself over to where the others were sat and threw herself down next to Alex, trying to think of a good enough excuse to get out of going to Hogsmeade. Hannah, still slightly pissed off at her, told her that it would be good for her to get out of the castle and Hugo agreed. Louis, as always, remained impartial in these discussions and Alex was just bitter about the fact that Quidditch practice was stopping him from going to Hogsmeade. 

“I thought you wanted to be a professional Quidditch player?” Hugo said. 

“I do,” Alex said. 

“Do you know how many things professional Quidditch players miss out on?” Lily asked him. 

“No, I know, but you get paid for doing it professionally. I don’t get paid for this!” He exclaimed, “and it  _ is  _ good money....have you seen your house?” 

Lily frowned at him. 

“Yeah, I have seen my house...because it’s my house,” 

“Not all Quidditch players have houses like that though. Uncle George has the shop, remember?” Hugo pointed out. 

But Alex didn’t seem to hear the last part. 

“No, you’re right...I’m going to have a bigger house,” 

Hannah rolled her eyes at him and hit him around the back of the head. 

“Stop daydreaming. We have practice now,”

“I can daydream  _ and _ practice,” he said cheerfuly as he followed her out of the common room. 

“Right,” Hugo said, clapping his hands together and standing up, “I’m going to the library. Are you coming, Lou?” 

“I guess. I realised yesterday that exams are a thing that I actually have to pass,” 

“You’re a lost cause,” Hugo muttered, following him out of the common room. 

Lily tried to put off going to Hogsmeade as much as possible, but it soon got to the point where she could no longer avoid it. And it was with quite a heavy heart that she dragged herself out of the castle and up to Hogsmeade. It wasn’t even that she didn’t want to see her brother, because she did, she just didn’t want him to lecture her about the dangers of the Resurrection Stone. There were few things that Fred Weasley could do as well as lecture his siblings. 

Fred had asked to meet in the Hog's Head Inn, of all places and Lily could not work out why. It was perhaps one of her least favourite places in the whole world. Aberforth always looked at her as though she was causing trouble and she always had to use magic to clean the glasses before she could even think about drinking from them. 

“You know, I don’t understand why you insisted on meeting here when the Three Broomsticks - are you OK?”

Lily froze in her tracks when she sat across from her brother. His hair was uncharacteristically messy and although it was not uncommon for there to be bags under Fred’s eyes, how deep and dark they were was quite startling. He almost looked ill. 

“What is it?” she asked anxiously, “is it work?” 

“No,” he muttered, his voice sounding hoarse. “No. Work is fine,” 

“Are you ill? You look ill. Maybe you should go to St Mungo’s-”

“It’s mum,” he spoke so quietly that Lily actually had to lean across the table to hear him. 

“Mum?” she whispered back, “what’s wrong with mum?”

He shook his head, tears springing to his eyes. Lily felt her heart begin to beat out of control, convinced that something awful had happened. It was then that she realised how tired Lydia had looked the night Uncle Harry had found out about the Stone. She actually made Fred look perfectly healthy. 

“Freddie, what is it?” she asked, “Is she ill?”

He shook his head. 

“I think she’s gone over,”

“Gone over? Gone over where?”

He looked at her with a blank stare. 

“You know where,” 

“How do you even know?” Lily demanded. 

“I heard her talking on the Floo to someone,” 

“Who?”

“Corvus,” 

“We need to tell some-”

“No!” he hissed, “No! We can’t tell anyone! What if I’m wrong and we get her in trouble! But what if...what if I’m right?” he sighed and wiped his eyes, “I’m basically living in work, right now. I haven’t been home in days. I just - I can’t,”

“What about dad?”

Fred shrugged, “He has no idea, and I can’t bring myself to tell him. Teddy doesn’t know either,” 

Lily had never felt so out of control in her life. As she stumbled back to school, her thoughts running wild, she wondered if this had been her mother's plan all along. Had she just been biding her time waiting for the right moment to strike? Was she really as Dark of a Witch as the tabloids had always said? Lily knew how intelligent her mother was and tricking the entire Wizarding World into believing that she was on their side all along was not something that was beyond her capabilities. 

And yet, as scared as all this made Lily feel, she couldn’t help but be angry. Angry at the fact that, yet again, Lydia had stole her thunder. Lily had had something that could have allowed her to step out from her mother's shadow, because what could be more shocking than the daughter of the Girl who Lived standing against everything she had ever fought for. Perhaps that was why she had finally gone over, because she could not stand to see Lily get attention for the thing that she wanted to get attention. 

The moment Lily got back into the castle, she hurried to the dormitory and wrenched the curtains shut around her bed, hugging her knees to her chest. What she needed, more than anything, was the Stone. She needed to speak to her Grandmother who always seemed to know exactly what to say and her uncle who always seemed to be able to make her laugh. 

The more she thought about the possibility of her mum standing with the Dark Order, the more confused she got and the less sense it made. She knew who her mother was. Or maybe she didn’t. Her mother was the kind of person to go out of her way to make sure that her children were safe, and joining the Dark Order did not seem like the best way to do that. Unless Lydia never cared about Lily, Fred or Teddy in the first place. Perhaps she had just started a family with George because it was the best way to keep up appearances that everything was as it should be. 

“Corvus,” Lily muttered to herself, “Corvus. I need to speak to Corvus,” 

And even though she knew she was being stupid, and even though there was a voice in the back of her mind telling her to go and speak to Uncle Harry, she hurried up to the Owlery and wrote a letter to the one person she thought she would never write a letter to. 

 

—

Sneaking out of the castle was a lot easier than Lily had ever imagined it to be. And she decided to take this as a sign that meeting Corvus in Hogsmeade would go a lot better than she had thought it was. She slipped out of the back door of Honeydukes and around to the back alley, anxiously waiting for him. 

“Is there a reason you’re here?”

Lily whirled around and came face to face with a rather bored looking Corvus. He was leaning against the wall, half illuminated by the streetlamp behind him. 

“Yes. I want to ask you something,” 

“If you want to know my favourite colour, it’s violet,” 

“It’s about my mum,” she said, fighting to keep her voice from shaking. 

“What about her?” Corvus asked. 

“Has she gone over? Is she with you?”

Corvus raised his eyebrows at her. 

“What’ve you heard?”

“Never mind that,” Lily snapped, not quite sure where this burst of confidence had come from, “Just answer the question,” 

“You’ve got a lot braver since the last time I saw you,” he remarked, “I could do with someone like you on my side,” 

“I told you, I’m not doing-”

“Did I say you had a choice?”

“What?”

_ “Imperio,”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (sorry)


	40. Good or Evil

Lydia stood in Ron and Hermione’s bathroom and stared into the mirror, surveying her reflection with an overly critical eye. It was strange how much she felt like she was going on a first date. Admittedly, she had only ever been on one first date in her entire life and she had been fourteen at the time, so she did not have much experience to pull from. All she did know was that she was horribly nervous and that this was the last thing that she really wanted to be doing, but there was no point in wallowing in her own self pity. She had to do it. 

“Do what is necessary,” she muttered to herself. 

There was a knock on the door. 

“Ready, Lyds?” Hermione asked. 

Sighing Lydia opened the door and nodded. 

“Yeah. It should be fun,”

Hermione frowned at her but did not say anything. Lydia did not read too much into this. A lot of their friendship consisted of Hermione frowning at her.

“Has George warmed up to the idea yet?” She asked. 

“What do you think?” Lydia asked with a scoff, “he’s convinced that it’s a terrible idea,” 

“It  _ is  _ a terrible idea,” Hermione sighed, “but it’s the only one we have,” 

“I’ll be fine, Hermione. I’ve done worse things than this. Dying, for example. That was quite bad,” 

“What a life we’ve lived...”

“Well, I almost didn’t,”

“Put this in you ear,” Hermione said, handing over a small black earpiece and ignoring that last comment, “It’ll let us hear everything that’s going on,”

“This is very James Bond,” Lydia said. 

“That’s who I got the idea from,” Hermione admitted, “It’s also muggle technology that’s been reinforced with magic. I’m counting on the Dark Order to not being able to recognise anything even slightly muggle. I’m going to be listening in today, but there will be a rotation of a few people,”

“I thought you said that we couldn’t trust any Aurors,” Lydia said. 

“We can’t,” Hermione said, “but...well, don’t laugh but I drafted in some old DA members. Those coins still work, you know,”

“Who’d have thought that a teenage rebellion gang would come in handy all these years later? Maybe we should encourage more teenagers to-”

“No. We shouldn’t,” Hermione said firmly, “we should be thankful that no one needs to be part of a teenage rebellion gang,”

“For now,” Lydia muttered. 

The wind whipped her hair as Lydia apparated to a cliff overlooking the sea. It took her a few moments to find her bearings and realise that they were awfully close to Shell Cottage. Her first thought was of Dobby, and then of the challenge that lay ahead.    
  
Trying to secure a meeting with Corvus had been difficult. The Ministry has been unable to track him down and he had ignored all summons to court. Admittedly, Lydia thought that summoning him to court was a stupid idea because why would a criminal listen to anything that the government told him to do?    
  
Finally, after Lydia had personally written to him, he had answered and they set up a meeting place. She stood back from the edge of the cliff, gripping her wand firmly in her hand and tried not to think about how high the cliff was. She was not scared of heights, but she did not fancy her chances of surviving after plummeting to the rocky surface below. Coming back to life again once was one thing, coming back to life again for a second time was not even worth thinking about.    
  
“Hello, Mrs Weasley,”    
  
Lydia forced herself to turn around as slowly as she could, trying her best to maintain an air of calmness. In reality, all she wanted to do was curse him and then wave him off to Azkaban for the rest of his life.    
  
“Corvus. Thank-you for meeting me,”    
  
“The pleasures all mine,” he said, “but I do wonder why it is that you wanted to see me,”    
  
“Because I want to join you,”    
  
He raised his eyebrows at her.    
  
“You want to join me?  _ The Girl who Lived _ wants to join the Dark Order?”    
  
“I think that’s what I just said,”    
  
“Forgive me, but we don’t exactly see eye to eye-“   
  
“Don’t presume that you know what I see,” Lydia snapped.    
  
“I thought your loyalties lie with the Ministry?”   
  
“My loyalties lie with myself,”  she said, “I always understood where Lord Voldemort came from. What’s so wrong with purity? Why do you think I married into a pure blood family?”    
  
“The Weasleys are blood traitors-“   
  
“Yes, they are,” Lydia agreed, “but you know what else they are? An excellent cover...no one expects Dark Magic from a Weasley,”    
  
Corvus frowned at her.    
  
“You sacrificed yourself to kill the Dark Lord,”   
  
“I didn’t. I gave myself up so that the Dark Lord could kill me and he could win the war. I truly thought that Harry would have been too distraught to carry on. But my plan didn’t work, so I had to sit back and let Harry kill My Lord, knowing that my time... _ our _ time,” she gestured between the two of them, “would come again,”    
  
“If we did begin to work together...could I trust you?”    
  
“It’s not a question of trust. You’re not going to get anywhere without me,”    
  
“That’s a bold statement, Mrs Weasley,”    
  
“And you know it’s true,”    
  
“Are you really ready for the whole world to know you’re evil?”    
  
Lydia stared at him for a few moments, wanting to scream that no, she wasn’t ready for the world to know that because it wasn’t true! But the the answer came to her lips easily.   
  
“There is no good or evil. Only power, and those too weak to seek it,”    


He smirked at her and nodded his head. 

“Welcome aboard,” 

When he held out his hand for her to shake it, she gripped it as hard as she could and yanked him towards her. 

“Touch any of my kids, and I’ll kill you,” 

“I don’t doubt it,”

Lydia wasted no time to Apparate away after this. George was waiting for her on the front steps of the house, hands clasped before him and staring at the ground. When he heard her arrive, his head snapped up and he leapt to his feet.

“How was it?”

Lydia didn’t say anything. She just burst into tears, taking herself by surprise. George jumped and ran over to her, gently leading her into the house. 

“Lyds,” he said softly, brushing the hair out of her face, “What is it? What did he say?” 

“It isn’t what he said. It’s what  _ I _ said,”

“I don’t understand,” 

“I quoted him. I quoted Lord Voldemort,”

George’s silence told her everything that she needed to know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bitch to write, hence why it's so short. But thank-you for reading!
> 
> <3


	41. The Right Moment

“How did the meeting with the Potter Girl go?”

Corvus rolled his eyes at Thierson. He was not the greatest addition to the Dark Order - barely an addition, really. Corvus had only let him join because he had taken pity on someone so lonely. The fact that he came from a ridiculously rich family and was more than happy to let them use the family Manor as a base was an added bonus, too. 

“She’s hardly a girl,” Corvus replied, “she’s in her forties and has three kids,” 

“I still thinks she’s seventeen,” Thierson shrugged. 

“Yes, but that’s because the last time you read a newspaper was when she was seventeen!” 

Thierson nodded, apprantley not noticing Corvus’ tone. 

“You’re probably right there, mate,” 

Corvus managed to resist the urge to curse him and instead told him to call a meeting for half three. Unsurprisingly, he messed up what was really quite a simple task because when Corvus got to the meeting room at half three, he found it empty. After a fair bit of swearing and threatening to expose Thierson to the Ministry, he managed to get everyone into the room. 

“I have news,” he said, addressing the almost empty room. 

After the raid on the Ministry in the summer, a lot of his people had been arrested, and recruiting people was not an easy task. It was not as though they could stand on street corners and hand out street flyers. It made Corvus wonder how the Dark Lord had managed to achieve it all those years ago, or even the Order of the Phoenix. That was something he would be be able to ask Lydia...

“Is it good news?” someone called out, “because the only news you seem to be giving us is bad news,” 

“I don’t know, do you think Lydia Weasley asking to join us is good news?”

The silence that followed was almost amusing to Corvus. It was as though they had all been hitten over the head with a Bludger for they were all staring at him with dazed looks on his faces. 

“Lydia Weasley as in Lydia Potter?” Somerdale asked, sitting up straight in his chair, “ _The Girl who Lived_?”

“The very same,”

Somerdale laughed loudly and punched the hair. 

“There’s no way we’re losing this now!” 

“Hang on, hang on!” Larksin called out of the from the back of the room, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...do you really think that this is a good idea? How do we know she isn’t planning on double crossing us?”

Corvus tutted. He had been expecting Larksin to be the one to start complaining. He seemed unable to follow through with a plan without trying to tear it apart first. 

“Because she was on the side of the Dark Lord all along,” Corvus told him, “she’s been on  _ our  _ side, all along,” 

Larksin scoffed, “Somehow, I find that hard to believe! She died so that the Dark Lord could be killed! She best friends with the Minister for Magic!”

Corvus shook his head, “I know it may seem that way, but it really isn’t. Her entire life has been a lie. Nothing that you see from her is real. She’s been biding her time, waiting for the right moment...and this is the right moment! With Lydia Weasley on our side, do you realise what we’re going to be able to achieve? We have access to Hogwarts, access to the Ministry...access to whatever we please!” 

“And what about her daughter?” Larksin asked, “Did you tell her about the little curse you put on her?”

“No. And neither will you,” Corvus said, his tone suddenly becoming sharp, “We need to keep Lily where she is. Out of here and away from her mother. Understood?”

“Whatever you say, Corvus,” Larksin muttered.

 

* * *

“You  _ only _ want to gain control of Hogwarts?” Lydia scoffed, during her first meeting with them, “Fucking hell, at least dream big. Go for The Ministry, at least,” 

“There’s no way we can go for the Ministry!” Larksin snapped, “There’s about twenty of us and Merlin knows how many of them!” 

“How many Aurors are there here?” Lydia asked. 

“Five,”

“So the Ministry have five less men,” 

Larksin rolled his eyes at her, “We can’t just attack The Ministry!”

“An attack doesn’t have to be violent,” Lydia said, “It can be subtle. We can make the Ministry implode without any of the mess. Merlin, this is the problem with you lot, you think everything has to end in a big fight!”

Corvus sat back in his chair but didn’t say anything and just watched the two argue. It was no wonder the Dark Lord lost the war when Lydia was on the other side. She always seemed to be two steps ahead of everyone else. 

“And how do you suppose that we make the Ministry implode?” Larksin asked, “it doesn’t sound like a particularly easy thing to do!”

“We have five people here who go to the Ministry every day, I don’t think that it would be that difficult,” Lydia replied. 

“They’ll get caught,” Larksin said, rounding on Corvus, “and you know they will. We can’t afford to lose anyone else,”

“I mean, I do know someone who works at the Ministry. She’s not very high up but I guess she’ll do,” Lydia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“Oh, so we’re starting with the Minister, now?” Larksin asked, “what could possibly go wrong?”

“Nothing. You have me,” 

“Fuck me!” Larksin exclaimed, “You are such a bitch, it is-”

Larksin had barely got the word out before Lydia had sent him half away across the room with a simple flick of her wand. 

“Call me a bitch one more time, I dare you,” 

She turned back to Corvus as though nothing had ever happened and carried on speaking. 

“Anyway, Hermione lets me into her office all the time. I could plant-”

“I agree with Larksin,” Corvus said, eyeing her wand wearily, “I think we should work out way up. Going straight for the Ministry would be suicide,”

“Fine,” Lydia snapped,  _ “Fine.  _ We go for Hogwarts. But for the castle, not the kids,”

“Since when did you have morals?” Corvus asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you want my help or not?” she hissed, slamming her hand onto the table. 

“We’ll start planning now, then. I think-”

“ _ You _ can start planning now,” Lydia said, picking up her bag. 

“Where are you going?” Larksin asked furiously. 

“I have a date night with my husband,” she said happily, “See you later!”

“I’m so confused,” Larksin muttered when she was gone, “does she like her husband or not?”

Corvus didn't really care about the ins and outs of her marriage. He was more concerned with how they were going to take down Hogwarts. Lily really would be essential in this plan...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!!


	42. Lie, Lily, Lie

Lily felt the most calm than she had ever done in her life. There was a voice in the back of her mind telling her that what was happening was wrong and that she needed to find it in herself to tell someone, but there was a much stronger voice pointing out that there was nothing wrong with being calm. No one had noticed that anything was wrong, but that was because he had told her to make sure that no one noticed that something was wrong. It was suddenly very easy to lie and she found that she quite enjoyed lying.   
  
Even in her Imperiused daze, Lily realised that there was something wrong with Uncle Harry. He looked tired and older than she had ever seen him. He also seemed to be snapping at people more than usual, a stark contrast to how he usually was in class. If Lily was more herself, she might have been worried, but she just let it slide because he told her to let it slide after writing to him. It probably wasn’t that important, he had told her, he was just angry because the Dark Order were finally going to win and there was nothing he could do about it.   
  
When Lily had first read those words, her first point of call was to panic because she wasn’t meant to be happy about the fact that the Dark Order was going to win. _No_ , the other voice said in the back of her mind, _no, you are happy that they’re going to win. You’re going to step out from your mother's shadow, remember?_   
  
Just the thought of that made her feel even more relaxed and she carried on as usual.   
  
“Lily, can I speak to you?”   
  
She turned around in her seat in the Great Hall and looked up at Uncle Harry who was looking rather anxious. Shrugging, she said goodbye to to Hugo and Hannah and followed him out of the Great Hall.   
  
“What’s going on with you?” he asked.   
  
“What do you mean?”   
  
“You’re acting...strange,”  
  
Lie. Make something up about the Stone. Say you’re feeling better because you’re not bogged down by it anymore.   
  
“I’m feeling a lot calmer now that I don’t have to worry about the Stone,” she lied, the words coming out easily,  “it’s better that you found out because now I don’t have to worry about hiding anything from you or my parents,”   
  
He gave her a searching look and then smiled, kissing the top of her head.   
  
“I’m glad you’re alright, Lily. See you in class,” 

The voice in the back of her mind suddenly broke free of whatever restraints was holding it back and seemed to be screaming at both her and Uncle Harry;  _ No, tell him what’s happened! Tell him! He needs to know! Quick! Before something bad happens! Before I do something I regret! Tell him! How can an ex-Auror not recognise an Imperius Curse? Tell him! Shout him! Now! _

“Uncle Harry!” Lily yelled, “Uncle Harry!” 

He turned around, his eyes wide. 

“Is everything alright?” 

“I-”

_ Don’t tell him,  _ the other voice said,  _ don’t tell him. It’ll only end badly for you. Lie, Lily, Lie!  _

“I’m really worried about my OWLs,” she blurted out.

He smiled at her in a reassuring sort of way. 

“Don’t worry about it. Next week, I’m going to hold one to one sessions with everyone to make sure that they’re feeling OK about the exams, OK?”

Lily nodded, “Yeah. That’s fine,” 

After that slight mishap, Lily was extra careful for the rest of the day. She mainly kept herself to herself and worked on ignoring the voice in the back of her mind that was quite relentless in the way that it kept on snapping on her to tell someone. The worst of it was in Potions when it would not stop shouting for her to tell Professor Slughorn that something was wrong. It made concentrating on the Potion she was working on quite difficult. 

The bell finally rang and Lily left as quickly as possible, terrified that she would slip up and ruin everything that Corvus had been working towards. That was the last thing that she wanted. 

“Hey! Lily! Hey!” Lorcan yelled, “Wait! Why are you walking so fast? Lily!”

Despite everything, Lily slowed down and allowed him to fall into step with her. 

“Why are you walking so fast? Somewhere to be?” he asked laughing. 

Lily forced herself to laugh and muttered something non-committal.    


“Anyway, I was, uh, I was wondering if maybe you...there’s a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and I was wondering if you would, you know, if you would want to come with me?”

Lily felt her heart swell and she was about to say yes before something - or someone - made her change her mind. 

“No,”

“I - what?”

“No. I said no,” 

Lorcan suddenly turned red, “Oh, I thought you were - I thought you were flirti - never mind. See you in Potions, I guess,”

“Yeah. Bye,” 

“What was that?” Hannah demanded, appearing out of nowhere with Hugo, Alex and Louis behind her. 

“What was what?” Lily asked innocently. 

“Lorcan Scamander just asked you out!” Alex exclaimed. 

“I know,”

“And you said no!” 

“I know,” Lily repeated. 

Louis frowned, “You know, I’m not relationship expert but even  _ I _ thought you were going to say yes!” 

“I might say yes instead, that is one attractive human,” Hugo muttered. 

Alex hit him over the head, “Behave,”    
Hannah furrowed her eyebrows at her. 

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Lily snapped, “I just didn’t want to go out with him! I didn’t realise I had to!”

“Have you seen Corvus lately?” Hannah asked in a hushed voice. 

“Seriously, Hannah?  _ Seriously?  _ You’re just as bad as everyone else!” Lily yelled, so loud that people were stopping to stare, “I thought we’d all agreed that I wasn’t the second coming of Bellatrix fucking Lestrange!”

“I’m sorry, but I had to ask!” Hannah snapped, “You’ve been acting strange lately! You’ve been lying to us and sneaking off! What are you doing!”

“Why do you care?” Lily hissed before turning on her heel and stalking off down the corridor. 

She wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly had a very strong desire to sneak out of school. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you for reading!


	43. Quick and Painless

Lydia was stressed, and more so than usual. Keeping the fact that she was a double agent away from the kids was a lot more difficult than she had been expecting it to; she was almost certain that Fred, being as intelligent as ever, had worked something out. Teddy seemed blissfully ignorant to anything that was happening outside of his bubble and Lily did not see Lydia enough to think that anything was wrong. 

And as though an impending war on which she was on the wrong side of was not stressful enough on its own, the Holyhead Harpies had once again written to her and offered her the coaching position. Lydia wasn’t sure what was holding her back from saying yes, but she had almost thrown the letter into the fire out of fear. George thought she was being weird, but he always thought that she was being weird. 

“But thats why I love you,” he assured her. 

In an attempt to try and work through whatever was going on in her mind, Lydia wrote to Ginny and asked her to meet up. 

“Jesus Christ, you’re freckly,” Lydia exclaimed when Ginny walked into the Leaky Cauldron. 

Ginny rolled her eyes, “France is very sunny, what did you expect?”

“Are you wearing enough sun cream?”

"What’s wrong?” Ginny asked, frowning at her. 

“How do you know that something's wrong?”

“Because you have the same look on your face that you used to before walking into Potions,”

“You know me so well,” Lydia sighed. 

“Yeah, it’s almost like I’ve known you since I was eleven or something,” 

Lydia sighed and suddenly felt quite stupid for worrying about something so trivial as a job when there were much bigger things to worry about. 

“Holyhead Harpies are asking me to coach again. And I’ve gotten loads of letters off the old team telling me to go for it!” 

“So take the job,” Ginny shrugged. 

“I’m fed up of being in the public eye!”

“When are you going to get it in your head that you’re always going to be in the public eye?”

“I know, I just-”

She was cut off by Tom the Landlord sidling up to their table. 

“Mrs Weasley? Your brother has been shouting for you in the fireplace for about five minutes now. I think he wants to speak to you. He seems quite stressed,” 

Lydia groaned and stood up, “Coming, Gin?”

Ginny thought about it for a moment and then nodded, “Potter drama is always fun,” 

“There you are!” Harry exclaimed from the fire, “Where have you been?”

“Well, I  _ was  _ having a relaxing day off,” Lydia grumbled as she crouched down in front of the fire, “but then you-”

“Lily is missing,” 

Lydia’s feet slipped on the floor and she fell to her knees with a thud, her heart beating wildly out of control. She stared at her brother, trying to work out if this was some sick joke, but he was not smiling. 

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked sharply. 

“Lily is missing,” Harry repeated, “she hasn’t turned up to any of her afternoon classes and we can’t find her on the Marauders Map!”

“Then look harder!” Ginny exclaimed. 

“We have!” Harry snapped, “We’ve practically torn the castle apart but she’s nowhere to be seen! I’ve been in and out of the Forbidden Forest about fifteen times!”

“Corvus,” Lydia muttered. 

“What?” Ginny asked.  

“Corvus has done something,” Lydia said, jumping up, “It’s him. I know it’s him,” 

“Oi!” Ginny yelled, grabbing Lydia by the arm and yanking her back, “What are you gonna do about it? We don’t even know where he is!”

“I’ll find him,” Lydia said. 

“No,” Harry said firmly, “No, you’re not doing anything till you’ve spoken to Hermione,” 

“Is Hermione there?” Ginny asked. 

“Yeah, she just got -”

“I’m coming,” Lydia said quickly, standing up and  preparing to go through the fire, “Will you go and get George for me, Ginny? He’s at work,” 

Lydia tumbled through the fireplace and onto the floor of Harry’s office, who quickly stooped down and helped her up. Hermione was stood besides McGonagall with her head in her hands. Ron sat with Hugo, Louis, Alex and Hannah, all of whom looked rather worse for wear. The fire burst to life again and George, Fred and Teddy all stumbled through. 

“What's going on?” Teddy asked. 

“We don’t know where Lily is,” Harry said, “We’ve been looking for her for the past three hours but she’s nowhere to be found. Hagrids still looking for her in the forest,” 

George groaned and collapsed into a chair. 

“She - she can’t have gone far though,” Fred said, “You can’t get out of Hogwarts, can you?”

Lydia frowned at Fred. There was something accusatory of the way that he was looking at her. 

“You can with the Marauders Map,” Teddy said, “not that I - not that I know anything about sneaking out of school,” 

“She doesn’t have the Marauders Map,” Alex said miserably, holding it up, “We do, but school is so packed-”

“Let me see it,” George said, holding out his hand, “I’m better at looking for someone on the map than the rest of you,” 

Lydia squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as George looked over the map. He was right; he was better than anyone at finding peoples dots, no matter how densely packed the corridors were. 

“She isn’t here,”

Tears sprang to Lydia’s eyes and she very quickly turned her back on the group. She didn’t want to cry in front of the kids, it would only panic them even more. 

“Right,” Hermione said, clapping her hands together and making Lydia jump, “Anyone who isn’t an adult, leave,”

“That means you too, Fred,” Harry said, “And Teddy,”

“We’re adults!” Fred protested. 

“You’re not even that much older than me, Uncle Harry!” Teddy exclaimed. 

_ “Out,”  _

After much grumbling, they left. Lydia cast an Imperturbable Curse on the door after noticing Teddy take an Extendable Ear out of his pocket. There was a part of her that felt terrible for keeping them so in the dark about everything that was happening. After all, that had been what the Order of the Phoenix had done to her and Harry, but it was the easiest way to keep them safe. 

“Have the Dark Order mentioned anything?” Hermione asked Lydia. 

“How would she know anything about that?” Ginny asked. 

“She’s spying on them for us,” Hermione said flippantly. 

“Of course she is,” Ginny muttered. 

“No!” Lydia yelled, “They didn’t! Don’t you think I would have mentioned if Corvus was planning on kidnapping my daughter?”

“We don’t know if it’s Corvus, Lydia,” Harry said quietly. 

Lydia rolled her eyes, “Don’t be stupid, H, of course it’s Corvus!” she swore and kicked a chair away from her, “I told him that I’d kill him if he did some shit like this!”

“Then he might not have done it,” Ron said, “they’re all scared of you,” 

“If that Son of a Bitch has her then you might as well start preparing my cell in Azkaban,”

Lydia apparated to the Dark Order base and had to force herself to stay calm. Showing too much emotion was the best way to get herself found out. As she walked through the Manor on the way to Corvus’s office, she found herself peering down every corner and glancing into every room to see if Lily was there or not. 

By the time that Lydia got to his office, she was seething with rage, convinced that he had her. There was no other explanation for it. She would not just walk out of Hogwarts on her own. She was not that kind of person. 

“Ah, Lydia, this is a surprise. I thought you weren’t coming in...” Corvus trailed off when he looked up from his desk and at her, “Is there a reason you’re pointing your wand at my face?”

“Where is she?” 

“Who?”

“Don’t play stupid, Corvus,” Lydia snapped, “Where’s Lily?”

“At school, I imagine,” 

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him. There was a voice in her mind screaming at her to cast Sectumsempra but she ignored it. Even that spell was too mild for him. 

“She isn’t. She’s gone missing. So, I’ll ask you again, where is she?”

Corvus chuckled slightly and stood up, moving Lydia’s wand out of his face. 

“You told me that you would kill me if I messed with Lily and I believed you then and I  _ certainly _ believe you now,” Corvus said, “so I don’t know where your kid is, but I hope you find her,” 

“I don’t believe you,” 

“What are you going to do, torture me?”

“Do you really want to test me right now?”

He smirked at her and held his hands up, “I don’t know where your kid is, alright?”

“If I found out you’re lying to me, I’ll kill you,” 

“Avada Kedavra is quick,” he shrugged. 

“Quick  _ and  _ painless,” Lydia said, “so what makes you think that you’d have the privilege of dying like that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated, it was my birthday on Saturday and I had to work more shifts so that I could actually have it off lmao. 
> 
> Anyway, thank-you for reading!


	44. Happy Potion Making

The house looked like Malfoy Manor, and Lily found herself thinking about Uncle Draco. It was only when Corvus walked into the room that she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Uncle Draco and quickly pushed him from her mind. 

“You’re good at making potions aren’t you, Lily?” he asked. 

Lily shrugged. 

“It’s the only thing that I can do, really,” 

“At least you’re good at something. I wasn’t very good at anything at school. Apart from making trouble.” he sighed and paused for a moment, as though reminiscing on his misdeeds, “Anyway, there’s a potion that I want you to make,” 

“What sort of potion is it?” Lily asked, wondering why on earth he would want a fifteen year old girl who had not even take her OWLs yet to brew a potion when he was surrounded by much older wizards - some who even worked in the Ministry. 

“It’s a very old, very complicated one,” Corvus told her, “and you’re the only person I know who would be able to make it successfully,”

He took a piece of parchment out of his robes and handed it to her. 

“Yeah. I can do that,” she said. 

Corvus grinned. 

“Let’s go to the Potions lab, then. I think you’ll enjoy it,” he lead her out of the room and started down the corridor, only to stop and turn on his heel when they were half way down it, “Actually, I think we’ll go this way,”

Lily didn’t feel the need to question him. He probably had his reasons. He always did. 

He showed her into a Potions lab that took her breath away. It was the sort of room that she dreamed of having in a house of her own, one day. The walls were piled high with more ingredients than Lily knew the name of, and a whole section of the room was just dedicated to cauldrons; each one specifically designed for a different potion. 

“Lily, can you just come and stand by the window for a moment?” Corvus said, a gleeful note in his voice. 

Without questioning it, Lily walked over and stood by the window. When two people walked past, Corvus rapped on it a few times. Lily recognised the first person as Thierson, who owned the house. He did not seem at all surprised to see her. The second person, however, did. 

“Lily!” Lydia yelled, “What are you - what are you doing here?”

“She’s working for us now,” Corvus replied, smirking slightly, “It’s good, don’t you think?”

“No!” Lydia yelled, “No! She’s a kid! Let her go back to Hogwarts! Let her go back to school!”

“It was her choice,” Corvus shrugged, “Wasn’t it, Lily?” 

That voice was back, screaming at her to tell her mum everything.  _ She needs to know! She needs to know that this isn’t you! You’ve been Imperiused! This isn’t you! Tell her! Tell her now!  _

“Yeah.” Lily said, shrugging, “It was my choice,” 

Lydia all but roared and threw herself against the door, but  the door, but it did not burst open like Lily was expecting it to. Corvus tutted and rolled his eyes, muttering something about annoying people. 

“You’re not going to break the door down, Lydia,” he snapped impatiently. 

“Let me in, Corvus!” she yelled, banging on the door, “Let me in! Let me see her!” 

“Take her away, Thierson,” Corvus instructed. 

“NO!” Lydia screamed, and Lily watched in amazement as her mother spun around and punched Thierson right on the jaw when he tried to drag her away, “NO! LET ME SEE HER! LET ME SEE HER!”

“You’ve been such a big help, Mrs Weasley, but I think your time with us in done,” Corvus said, “We’ll see you at Hogwarts, I imagine,” 

She was sobbing uncontrollably now and throwing what appeared to be every curse she knew at the door and the people that were trying to drag her away.

"I thought she was on our side," Thierson said, frowning. 

Corvus shrugged, "Despite what she's capabe of, she _is_ a woman. You know how temprimental they can be. Merlin knows who she's actually fighting for. I don't even think she knows herself," 

“Are you not worried that she’ll tell Aunt Hermione everything?” Lily asked once her screams had died away. 

“I’m counting on it,” Corvus said happily, “That potion is an old one, hasn’t been used for years, centuries even. It allows the drinker to become the most powerful wizard alive. More powerful than the Dark Lord, even...and she has no idea,” 

“So...you’re going to drink it?”

Corvus laughed and shook his head. 

  
“No,  _ we’re _ going to drink it,” he said, “the entire Dark Order. The Children who Lived might have been able to take down one powerful wizard, but would they be able to take down an entire army of them?” He winked at her, “Happy potion making,” 


End file.
